


Oikawa/Reader and Kageyama/Reader SFW One-Shots

by BoomChickaPop



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Awkward Flirting, Cute, Cutesy, F/M, Flirting, Fluff, One Shot, Short & Sweet, Sweet, Volleyball
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-15
Updated: 2020-06-10
Packaged: 2021-03-02 19:14:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 23,889
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24201913
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BoomChickaPop/pseuds/BoomChickaPop
Summary: Reader inserts with Oikawa Tooru and Kageyama TobioMostly fluff :) Awkward flirting, dorky volleyball boys, and adorableness will ensue ~“You don’t have to be defensive. You can just tell me if you like me.”“You’re delusional.”“And you’re cute when you’re embarrassed.”
Relationships: Kageyama Tobio/Reader, Oikawa Tooru/Reader
Comments: 6
Kudos: 47





	1. No Need for Trivial Things (Oikawa Tooru x Reader)

Oikawa Tooru X Reader

No Need for Trivial Things

There was something special about a good game of chess. You rubbed your nose as you stared at the pieces on the board. Your opponent was extremely intelligent and you had to focus more than usual in this game. You didn’t mind, though. You adored it. It was always a blessing to finally have a competent opponent. Because it made it even more satisfying when you won.

Your mind was working overtime, calculating six moves ahead as you moved your rook five places forward. Your opponent breathed out, moving his knight to take your queen who you had left open. You smiled as he fell right into your trap. With your bishop already in line to take the pawn guarding his king, he had just moved his last defense line. You moved your bishop, taking away his pawn and looked up at him.

“Checkmate.” You said, smiling. The boy across from you flared his nostrils and looked up at you, glaring hard. You grinned and stuck your hand out. “Good game.” 

The boy angrily took your hand and roughly shook it. You smiled and stood up, walking back to your cheering team. This had been the semifinals for your chess club’s tournament and because of this win, your team was going to the finals. The captain hugged you tightly, slapping your shoulder and grinning.

“You showed him! You know that’s one of the top ranked players in our prefecture and you just annihilated him!” He exclaimed as the rest of your team crowded around, cheering and congratulating you.

“I bet he hates losing. Especially to a girl.” You said, smirking. You glanced at your captain and you saw he was blushing as he stared at you. You rolled your eyes and punched him playfully on the shoulder.

Being the only girl in the chess club, the members had more than a few times tried to ask you out. And you got looks from other teams quite a lot. You really didn’t mind, you liked all the attention and it gave you even more satisfying pleasure since you were probably one of the best players in the prefecture, if not the nation.

Soon, after a few hours of eating and celebrating with the members of the club and the teacher advisors, it was time to return to school. This semifinals had taken place in the morning and you all still had to return to school for afternoon classes. All of the members were wearing the signature turquoise polo shirts, representing their school and they clambered onto a matching colored bus. You loved your school, Aoba Johsai, because it was a powerhouse school in pretty much every club. In chess, your team reached the National Final pretty much every year. The trick was winning the finals.

In years past, you didn’t take part in the chess club because you spent most of your time as manager for the basketball club. Your brother had been on the team, and you just wanted to spend more time with him before he left for college. Now that he was gone and this was your final year of high school, you decided to join the chess team because you figured they could use you. With you on the team, the chess club was sure to go to nationals again this year.

While on the bus, one of the team members shouted up to the teacher advisor who was driving.

“Hey, Sensei, do you think we could stop by the Sendai City Gym? The volleyball team is playing today, I think.” The teacher advisor asked the rest of the team if they wanted to, and everyone agreed.

You remained quiet in your seat. You weren’t sure how to feel about this. You knew the volleyball team better than most people would think. Your brother had been good friends with some of the players and that led you to become acquainted with one Oikawa Tooru who was their star setter. You and Oikawa had quite the history together.

When you were both first years, you found him quite attractive. In fact, you found yourself developing a massive crush on him. That whole first year, you always followed your brother to volleyball practices when he wanted to visit his friends, and you’d end up using your brother as an excuse just to show up at practice to watch Oikawa play. Then in your second year, you mustered the courage to talk to him. After speaking to him, you found yourself liking him even more. Then one day, out of the blue, he asked you out.

For the rest of your second year, you and Oikawa dated. For the first few months, you were on cloud nine. It was bliss to wait for him after volleyball practice and then have him sweep his arms around your shoulders, whispering sweet nothings in your ear. He paid you a lot of attention back then. But towards the end of the year, he became more and more into his volleyball game. He practiced for hours and sometimes forgot that he was supposed to hang out with you. You stopped seeing him that often and you realized that he cared more for volleyball than he ever would for you.

So you broke up with him. It was heartbreaking and you cried for days, but you knew it was necessary. You hadn’t spoken to him since that day. You knew it was immature, but you had even started avoiding him in the halls. It was just too painful for you to look at him and not think about what you used to have. 

And that’s why your hands shook as your bus pulled into the parking lot.

All the boys hopped out of the bus with you trailing behind. You followed them silently, your hands wrapped around yourself protectively. As you entered the gym, you heard the familiar sound of balls bouncing and boys shouting. Your teammates ran up the stairs to the cheering section and you tried to keep your head up as you followed them. When you reached the top, you saw Seijoh’s huge cheering section and made your way toward it, trying to keep yourself from looking at the matches below.

When you reached the cheering section, one of the students smiled and handed you a cheering tube. You took the cone shape and stared at the turquoise color before finally forcing yourself to look down. The team was closest to your side so they were facing away from you. You immediately recognized the four third years. Iwaizumi signature spiky hair made it easy to spot him as he jumped for a spike. Maki and Matsukawa were also in the game as they were on the offensive. The two others were some first years that you’d never seen before.

And then, there he was. He still kept his hair swept up and he was still wearing his signature smirk. He fist pounded Iwaizumi as he tossed the ball to Maki who was about to serve. You glanced at their score and saw that they were winning pretty easily. You assumed they’d already won the first set because they were up 22-11 in the second set.

Maki served and the opponent tried for a normal quick. One of the first years easily picked it up and the ball floated to Oikawa. You held your breath as Oikawa jumped to toss, the blockers had already jumped in front of Iwa to try and stop him, but before they could react, Oikawa’s hands changed and he slammed the ball down for an easy setter’s dump. You tried to keep yourself from letting out a shout of victory, but you let one out anyway. Luckily, the cheers around you drowned out the sound of your voice.

The next point, the other team managed to get a point off by getting a lucky ball to hit the net and fall over, out of reach of the others. Then, Seijoh immediately got the point back by one of Iwa’s amazing spikes. You held your breath as Oikawa picked up the ball to serve for the match. He turned around to walk to the back line and you immediately wanted to hide. 

Suddenly, three girls next to you shouted at the top of their lungs:

“Oikawa-kun! Do your best!” 

You whirled on them, trying to get them to shut up, but it was too late. Oikawa looked up with a pleasant smirk on his face. He waved at the girls and paused as his eyes connected with yours.

You felt a blush rise to your cheeks as his eyes widened. His smirk faded and he went pale. You stared at each other for a few seconds before the umpire blew his whistle, telling Oikawa he needed to serve. Oikawa looked down and turned away from you, his back now much tenser than before. You let out the breath you were holding as he tossed the ball high and ran up to jump. He jumped and his hand made contact with the ball, making a sound like a gunshot as he slammed the ball down.

You gasped as the ball flew with so much speed, you were pretty sure if someone tried to touch it, their arms would break off. Oikawa’s serve bounced in the court and then flew to the back without a single person touching it. From the silence in the crowd and the other team, it was clear that this was one of his harder serves. Maybe the hardest in the match.

“Alright!” The team cheered, the cheering section erupted and your chess club friends were right in the pack, cheering along with them. You felt yourself shrinking in the midst of an ecstatic cheering section, so you decided to wait downstairs to go back to school.

You made your way down the stairs and stood by the front door of the gym. As you waited, you watched the other team pack up and leave, all of their faces full of melancholy. You felt bad for them, but you said nothing as they walked past you and left the gym. You sighed and watched as they climbed back onto their bus, knowing that their season was over.

Suddenly, you felt the hairs on the back of your neck stand like when someone was watching and you turned around. You blushed as you saw Oikawa standing at the mouth of the gym, holding his shirt in one hand and his bag in the other. He was shirtless, probably because he was about to go shower, but you felt your eyes involuntarily shift lower on his chest. He dropped his bag and immediately pulled his shirt back on, walking toward you. You took a breath and prepared yourself for this conversation.

“It’s been awhile.” Oikawa said, stuffing his hands in his pockets. You nodded and faced him, crossing your arms. “I didn’t think you’d be here.” He said, glancing away before back at you.

“It wasn’t by choice.” You said abruptly, feeling that familiar heat rise in your stomach. Oikawa smirked at your remark and you found yourself feeling like he was mocking you. He usually did when you were together and you would have many verbal jousts. But right now, you honestly didn’t want to bring up the past.

“I heard you won a chess match. Congratulations, you never told me you played chess.” He said, looking you up and down. Your eyes narrowed and you pursed your lips.

“I did tell you. You just never listened.” You retorted, causing Oikawa’s smirk to falter. He glanced up at you and you found yourself feeling extremely irritated. You never wanted to be here in the first place and now you had to go through an awkward conversation that you never wanted to happen. You took a breath and uncrossed your arms.

“Look. I don’t want to fight. I don’t even really want to talk. So I’ll make this simple. I’m doing fine, you’re doing fine. You’re enjoying volleyball, I’m enjoying chess. No, I don’t miss you. You don’t miss me either. I hope you have a good life, I’ll try to have a good life too. Now let’s just agree to not speak to each other again, because it is way too awkward.” 

With that, you walked past him and started to make your way back inside, even though you weren’t really sure where you were going. You heard a chuckle behind you and you paused slightly.

“You really haven’t changed, have you?” He asked, turning around to face you. You looked down before turning back and glaring at him.

“Maybe you just haven’t noticed the difference.” You snapped. Oikawa threw his head back and laughed, causing you to straighten your back in indignation.

“It’s always the snarky response with you, isn’t it? I should have known this would happen eventually. Especially since you’ve been avoiding me in school.” Oikawa’s eyes found yours and you felt yourself gulp and step back. You blushed, your immaturity now coming back to bite you in the butt. Oikawa smiled.

“You didn’t think I’d notice?” He asked. “You literally ran away from me a couple of weeks ago.” You blushed again and looked away, remembering the incident with clarity.

_ You had walked into the library to meet the chess club and had accidentally bumped into Iwaizumi who was conveniently standing in front of Oikawa. You took one look at the duo and did the only thing that came to your mind. You turned around and fled down the hall. You didn’t stop until you reached the girl’s bathroom. You had to stay locked in a stall for a good half hour before you felt courageous enough to come out. _

“I’m sorry for my immaturity.” You said, ducking your head in shame. “I wasn’t thinking straight.”

“Well I couldn’t blame you. It was me, after all.” You looked up as Oikawa grinned, inflating his own ego. 

You glared at him and straightened your back, ready to sock him in the face. He always took things as a joke, even if it was serious. You had just tried to apologize and he’d come at you with a stupid joke. You wanted to fight, but you knew that you were too heated to win.

“What do you want from me?” You asked in defeat. Oikawa laughed and raised his arms in surrender.

“Okay, okay, I’m sorry.” He said with a smile. Then his smile faded slightly as he looked you in the eyes. “I’m happy you came. I’ve missed you.” You looked away, blushing slightly. Oikawa took a step forward and you saw his arm reach out, like he was going to take your hand. “And I’ve been thinking…” you immediately jerked back, not allowing him to touch you.

“No, you haven’t been thinking. You don’t miss me. We’re not about to do this.” You said, stepping back. Oikawa stared at you with wide eyes and took another step forward.

“What are you talking about? Of course I’ve missed you. You don’t think I hated it when we broke up? Damn I know you’re naïve but I didn’t think you’d be that dumb.” Your eyebrows raised as he cringed, probably realizing what he’d just said. “I didn’t mean it like that. Look, all I’m saying is I really regret how we left things off and I want to talk about it.”

“No. There’s no need to talk about it. You made it very clear that you were going to put your volleyball over everything else and I respected that. You are not allowed to smooth talk your way back into my life like this. I already had my heart broken once, I won’t let it happen again.” You said, raising a finger to keep him from coming closer. He ignored your warning and in two long strides he was right up close to your chest so you had to lift your chin to look up at him.

“You don’t think my heart was broken too? You don’t think I regret making you feel like that at all?”

“Stop it. You are not allowed to do this to me.”

“No, you need to listen—”

“Stop it, Oikawa!” Your shrill yell cut him off and his eyebrows raised, his eyes widening. He stared at you and then took a couple of steps back. He looked into your eyes and you felt your knees buckle as his chocolate-hazel eyes melted your soul like they’d done a million times.

“So I’m just Oikawa to you now?” He asked, hurt ringing in his tone. “What happened to calling me Tooru?”

“I don’t want to call you that.” You said, wrapping your arms around yourself. “We’re not together anymore.” Oikawa frowned and bit his lip. It wasn’t a good look for him.

“No we’re not. But we’re still friends. You can still call me by my first name. I’ve given you permission.” He said, running his fingers through his tousled hair. You glanced away and felt the heat rise to your cheeks again.

“I just don’t feel comfortable calling you that.” You said firmly, straightening your back. Oikawa looked down, and then smiled, chuckling slightly.

“Of course you wouldn’t be.” He said lightly. He looked back up and you and smirked. “I should have known. I know you too well.” You felt a spark of indignation at his words and uncrossed your arms, clenching them to fists.

“Really? You know me that well, huh? Then what’s my favorite color?” You asked abruptly, causing Oikawa to pause. He blinked a few times, looking at you incredulously. Then he started to think and you knew from his blank face that he had no idea what your favorite color was. 

“Case and point.” You said, feeling your heart crack slightly. You’d kind of been hoping he’d prove you wrong, but you supposed you should have been expecting it. “Have a nice life, Oikawa.” With that, you turned around and prepared to leave.

“Wait.” Suddenly, you felt a hand grasp your own and you jerked to a stop, feeling your cheeks heat at the warmth of his hand. “Okay, fine. I don’t know little things like your favorite color or your favorite number or whatever. Those are trivial in my opinion. But I do know you. I know you better than you think.” He pulled you around so you were facing him. He wasn’t smiling now. He wasn’t smirking or grinning. There was no amusement in his eyes now. The mask was down and he was being serious.

“I know you’re impulsive. When it comes to your emotions, you act out and cause a scene even if you don’t mean to. When it comes to anything else, you are one of the most manipulative people I’ve ever met. You’re able to talk your way out of everything and you can get whatever you want, just by speaking to someone. You’re a great negotiator when emotions aren’t involved. But because of your emotional weakness, you have passion. So much passion that sometimes, it overwhelms you. But that’s when you are your most beautiful.”

“I know that your eyes are never the same color because they change according to your mood. When you’re angry, you have hazel eyes. When you’re happy, you have green eyes. When you’re sad, you have grey eyes. Right now, you have dark hazel eyes. You’re angry. You’re angry at me because of what I did to you, because of how I make you feel. But at the same time, you’re sad because you still hurt and you still wish it hadn’t happened. You wish you had pretended not to care and still been here as my girlfriend and not as somebody I used to know.

“I know why you’re able to play chess, even if I don’t remember you ever telling me, because I know how you think. You think seven moves ahead and you have every word planned before you say anything. You are like me, you use the tools you have to the best of your ability, regardless of whether you’ve been given a bad hand. I know that you are like me in that we both try to hide our emotions. We pretend like nothing matters, when in reality, we hurt the most. You are the only person I can truly let my mask down for because you are the only person who truly gets it. So yes, maybe I don’t know the trivial things, but I know you as a person. That’s good enough for me. I hope that’s good enough for you.”

You were caught in shock as his mountain of words hit you like an avalanche. You tried to sort out what he’d been saying, but you couldn’t. You could barely think straight, or you would have noticed that he’d taken both your upper arms and leaned down to your face. You only managed to look up into his eyes for a split-second before you felt his lips press urgently against yours.

Almost instantly, all the blocks fell into place. Everything he’d just said to you made sense and suddenly, you were kissing him back. You didn’t even realize it when your hand reached up and tangled itself into his hair. You barely noticed when your back was pressed against the wall and his hands tightened around your waist. 

Suddenly, none of that mattered anymore. In that moment, you remembered what it was like to love Oikawa Tooru. You remembered why you’d been so heartbroken when you left him. And it was at this moment you realized, you never wanted to let him go again.

He pulled away from you for a split-second, allowing both of you to pant and catch your breath.

“I’m sorry.” Oikawa let out. You inhaled sharply and sighed as he pressed his forehead against yours. “I never meant to hurt you.” You wanted to punch him for talking so much, so instead you cupped his face in your hands and brought his lips back to meet yours. He groaned slightly and ravished in the kiss before pulling away again. “We need to stop.” You wanted to protest, but you knew he was right. 

Finally, you allowed him to wrench himself off you and take a few steps back.

“We… we need to talk about this.” He said quietly, rubbing the back of his head. You pushed yourself off the wall and nodded.

“I want to be with you.” You said suddenly. He looked up at you with wide eyes. “But I can’t fall back into this relationship without proof that I won’t get my heart broken.” You took a breath and took a step closer to him. “Come to the finals at my chess tournament. If you do that, then we can talk about our relationship. If you do that, then I know you’re being serious.”

Oikawa stared at you, like it was a horrible bargain and ‘how dare you force him to do that’. You ignored his face and walked up to him, lifting yourself on your toes to press a long, sweet kiss to his lips.

“I miss you. That’s all you have to do because it’s good enough for me. I hope it’s good enough for you too.”

~~~

The National Chess Tournament Final: 

You leaned over the chess table in contemplation, all too aware of the timer counting down your precious seconds. This was by far the hardest match you’d played yet and the boy in front of you was giving you no indication of his thoughts. He didn’t have a very obvious tell. But you knew he had to have one, and you continued to use your special tactics to find it. 

You scrunched up your eyebrows on purpose and huffed, making it look like you were stumped. Keeping a watchful eye on the boy’s face, you made a stupid move, by drawing your rook into open fire. The boy’s lip twitched, but he didn’t react otherwise, and quickly took your rook without hesitation. You huffed again, pretending that you didn’t mean to make that move. Then you moved your pawn one place, and smiled at your board. You were perfectly set up in every way, even after he’d taken your rook.

If the boy noticed, he didn’t show. He just continued to look at the board in contemplation with his hands on his lap. You looked at his hands as his thumb ran over the edge of his fore finger. A nervous habit? Or something more? You smiled as he moved his queen in position to take your king.

“Check.” He said with confidence. You smiled at the scene and pretended to be offended or bemused that he had a check. 

Then you calmly moved your bishop, who was in the back, to remove the threat of his queen. He showed no emotion and quickly moved his pawn to take back your bishop. You smiled, danger now over, and moved your trump card. Your pawn, which you had been moving up slowly but surely throughout the game, moved one spot forward to reach the end of the board. Smiling, you removed it and replaced it with your spare queen. Now you had two queens, and he had none. You were about to take this game, and he knew it. You glanced at his hands and saw that he had clamped them to fists. You grinned, knowing that you’d won.

He sighed and moved the only piece he had, giving you the opportunity to move your new queen into his king’s line of fire.

“Checkmate.” You said slyly, giving him a cool smirk. He sighed, showing the first bit of emotion and stuck his hand out. You shook it enthusiastically, already feeling that trophy in your hands. 

You wished him good luck in his endeavors and quickly rushed back to your team’s box. The captain was practically jumping out of his skin. All of your teammates whacked you on the back, hugged you, or simply screamed in your ear. You laughed and yelled along with them. Then you peered behind everyone and saw the one person you’d been the most looking forward to seeing… fast asleep with his head leaning back on his seat.

You smiled and almost burst out laughing at the sight. Oikawa had come straight from volleyball practice to see you, and you’d made a point not to speak to him at all before the match started. If he was still here after that, you decided, then you would know he meant business. You hadn’t even given him the time or place of the chess tournament, so the fact that he had found it and was here was pretty good to you. You had already forgiven him the moment you saw him walking in the big arena with wide eyes, looking around to make sure he was in the right place.

So you weren’t angry that he had fallen asleep. You were actually expecting him to screw up in some way or another. He was Oikawa, after all. He pretended to be smooth and suave, but he was quite the dork under all that facade.

You smirked as you walked up to the sleeping jock. You weren’t angry, but that didn’t mean you couldn’t have some fun. You turned around and started working up some fake tears. Hopefully, you wouldn’t start laughing as you messed with him. Once tears were steadily streaming down your cheeks, you roughly grabbed Oikawa’s shoulder, causing him to jerk up with wide eyes.

“Really, Oikawa?” You shouted, pretending to be hurt. “You’re  _ asleep _ ? I asked you to do one thing for me, and you fell asleep?” Oikawa took a second to realize where he was, and then he jerked up, stretching his arms out in surrender.

“Wait, wait, you don’t understand, I wasn’t asleep the whole time. I watched the beginning of the match, I swear I did. I’m just so tired, I’m really sorry, please give me another chance. I mean, you looked like you were doing well. Did you win?” 

You let the waterworks fall faster and turned your head away as your answer. Oikawa’s frantic voice softened and he touched your shoulder. 

“Hey, don’t worry about it. You played your best, and I’m sure the person you played was really good. I know you wouldn’t let him win without a fight.” He said, trying to put his arm around your shoulder for comfort. You smirked internally and immediately jerked back, shaking his arm off.

“Don’t touch me. I just lost the most important match in my life, and all I wanted was for you to be here. All I wanted was to see if you really cared about me at all, but I guess you don’t care, because you didn’t even have the decency to  _ watch the match _ .” You turned around to leave, but Oikawa grabbed your shoulder, before you could dramatically storm off.

“No, wait, don’t go. I’m sorry for sleeping, I really am. Come on, I’ve never done this for anyone before, you know that. I’ve never been to another event before, and I didn’t realize how long it would take. Look, just give me another chance, I promise I’ll make it up to you.” You felt a laugh bubble up in your stomach, but you stamped it down.

“What could you possibly do to win me over this time?” You asked harshly, turning around to face him. Oikawa flinched and looked down.

“Um… I can take you to a restaurant. Your favorite restaurant. And I’ll buy you a new chess set.” He said, looking around for help. You smirked. For all the flirting he did in his spare time, he was at a loss for what to do in this kind of romantic situation. He’d never been the chaser in the cat and mouse game of romance. 

“Yeah, because that’s going to make up for you falling asleep.” You said sarcastically, crossing your arms. Oikawa threw his arms up in the air in exasperation.

“I’m here, aren’t I?” He cried out. You smirked for real, wiping away your fake tears. You approached the frustrated setter and stood on your toes to press your lips to his. His eyes widened and he stared at you in shock as you pulled away.

“Yes, you are. Thanks for being here, Tooru.” You leaned in again and pressed your lips to his again. At first, he was a little taken aback, then he wrapped one arm around your waist and another in your hair and kissed you back, hard.

“I can’t believe I came all this way, just to get trolled by the person I’m supposed to be winning over.” He said as you broke apart. You giggled and took his hand.

“Come on, Tooru. Let’s go celebrate.”

“Celebrate?” He looked at you incredulously and you laughed at his expression. Then he understood and swore. “My god, I’m dating a psychopath.” He said, rubbing his forehead. You grinned and pulled him along.

“You knew exactly what you were getting into when you showed up today. So you can suck it up.” You smirked and continued to walk forward. Suddenly, Oikawa jerked you around and slipped his hand around your neck, pressing his lips to yours abruptly. You sighed and let your rigidness fall into the kiss.

“You bet I knew what I was getting into.” Oikawa whispered huskily, before planting a tantalizing kiss on your nose. You were slightly speechless, and now it was his turn to grip your hand and pull you along.


	2. King of the Court - Part 1 (Kageyama Tobio x Reader)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is a short story I wrote for one of my writing classes in high school. I based the characters off of Kageyama and Hinata.  
> Because of that, the character names are different (because I obvi couldn't turn in a fanfiction for my class lol)  
> So just for context:  
> Leah = Reader  
> Hillary = Yachi Hitoka  
> Sam Hanta = Hinata Shoyo  
> Toby King = Kageyama Tobio

My fingers shook as they gripped the piece of paper. I was standing outside the principal’s office, my heart pounding. I had never received a call to the office before. The last time I’d been called to go to the principal’s office, it had been because they had mistaken my name for someone else. There was no way I was actually in trouble.

Why would the principal call me here? Was it because I had hit the vending machine angrily once because it hadn’t coughed up my juice carton? I’d only hit it once, and I felt really bad afterwards, even if it did give me my juice. I didn’t mean to do it, really. Oh God, they were probably going to sue me now and my family would become broke and homeless and I would no longer be able to go to school or go to university. I was such an idiot, sometimes, and this time it was going to cost me everything.

“Why, why, why, why?” I repeated over and over again out loud and in my head. I heard a voice from inside the office calling my name and I was brought back to reality. I cursed under my breath, mentally scolding myself for the thousandth time, before pushing the door open and stepping inside. What I saw was not what I was expecting.

The principal was sitting at his desk, in front of two boys whose backs were facing me. The principal stood as I walked in, letting the door shut softly behind me. The boys turned around to look at me and I felt my cheeks redden. So now I would have an audience for when I got sued? How lovely.

“Ah, Leah, thank you for coming so promptly.” The principal said, spreading his arms, smiling warmly. He was a kind man, and I always liked talking with him in the hallways. He knew my father well because he was a regular at my father’s barber shop, and he frequently bought cupcakes from my mother’s bakery. Maybe he wouldn’t sue me.

The two boys in the chairs stared at me as I forced a smile back at the principal. I didn’t recognize them, but that wasn’t surprising. The school was huge, with over four hundred kids per class. There was no way I could know every person in my grade, assuming that these two were in my grade. One of them was short and had fiery orange hair spiked up in all different directions. He had a round face and large hazel eyes, watching me in curiosity.

The other boy was much taller, with straight black hair that fell just above his eyes. His eyes were a deep navy color, so penetrating that I had to look away for fear of being swallowed up by their intensity. His lips were etched into an ever-present frown and he had frown wrinkles between his eyes that seemed like they had never been smoothed out. I was slightly afraid of this boy.

“Um... I didn’t mean to interrupt.” I began, clasping my hands in front of me. “I can come back later.” The principal walked around his desk, waving his hand in protest.

“Nonsense, I asked you here on purpose. Come over here, darling, I want you to meet Samuel and Toby. They are on our boys’ volleyball team.” The principal explained, beckoning for me to come closer.

I gulped, but did as he asked, as the orange-haired boy stood up to greet me. He smiled warmly and held out his hand. I was slightly taken aback at how short he was. He couldn’t have been more than 5’3” at the most. How was he on the volleyball team? Weren’t volleyball players supposed to be tall? I shook his hand and felt my body relax at the friendly smile he was giving me.

“I’m Sam. It’s nice to meet you, Leah.” He said warmly, giving me a firm shake. I smiled and nodded at him. The taller boy rolled his eyes and nodded curtly at me. I gulped and looked away quickly, hating to be under his icy stare.

“Sam is the captain of the volleyball team and Toby is their setter. I brought you here today, because they are having a problem with qualifying for the state tournament.” I tilted my head in confusion as Sam sat back down, glancing at his friend. I didn’t know what a setter was. I didn’t know anything about volleyball.

“You see, Leah, to qualify for the tournament, every player must have at least a 3.0 grade point average. Everyone on the team meets this requirement except for Toby. He has a month to bring his grade up before the tournament if he wants to go. Since you are the top student in your class, naturally, I come to you for help.” The principal explained calmly. I gulped again and looked down at Toby who was glaring at the wall. I already knew what they were going to ask me to do.

“Leah, do you think you could tutor Toby here? This would count as volunteer hours and you would be done with your hours for the year. Also I’m sure you and Toby can come to some kind of payment arrangement if you need.” I blinked as I looked back at Toby who didn’t look like he needed my help at all. I looked at Sam who was giving me puppy-dog eyes.

“Hey, Toby, you need to ask her yourself. She’ll think you’re ungrateful.” Sam hissed at his friend, nudging him slightly. Toby gave the shorter boy a murderous look and Sam jerked back like Toby was going to hit him. He jerked back on reflex, which told me that this had happened before. Finally, Toby sighed and looked up at me, causing my blood to run cold at the angry look he was giving me.

“Will you please tutor me? I can pay you.” he asked curtly. I gulped, feeling that this would be the best I would ever get from him and took a deep breath.

“I don’t need you to pay me. I’ll do it.” I said hurriedly, trying to rush out my answer.

“Excellent. I’ll leave him to you, then Leah.” I nodded at the principal’s obvious dismissal. I turned to leave the room with Sam and Toby getting up to follow me. The three of us walked outside and paused awkwardly in the hallway. I looked at Sam, who definitely seemed like the nicer of the two, and smiled slightly at him.

“I hope you do well in the tournament.” I said timidly. Sam grinned and glanced at his friend mischievously.

“We only will if this kid here stops being a dumbass.” He elbowed Toby, which seemed like the wrong move to me. Toby was a good eight inches taller than Sam, and he definitely seemed more violent. Pissing this kid off was probably up in my ‘top ten list of things I definitely _do not_ want to do’.

As predicted, Toby took a swing at Sam’s face. I gasped and stepped back as Sam nimbly dodged the blow and burst out laughing. Toby’s frown deepened as he tried to take another swipe at Sam, but the shorter boy was too quick for him. He grabbed Toby’s wrists as the two began to wrestle right in front of me, Sam holding the larger boy back by a hair.

“You barely managed to get a 3.0, so you can’t talk, shrimp.” Toby snarled. Sam grinned and released him, once Toby seemed like he’d calmed down slightly. Then, before Sam could react, Toby swiftly whacked his friend upside the head, causing the boy to wince and jerk slightly from the force of the hit.

I stifled a giggle at their childishness. I found myself strangely jealous at the way they were so comfortable with each other. From the way Sam had immediately reacted to Toby’s violent response, I knew that this wasn’t a rare occurrence for them. They were probably always fighting and bickering, and for some reason, that seemed like a much better relationship than anything I had. My closest relationship was with the captain of the book club whose only purpose to come talk to me was to inform me about another meeting.

“Anyway, hey you want to give me your phone? I’ll put our numbers in it. You can text Toby.” Sam said, holding out his hand. I inhaled slightly and nodded, pulling out my old sliding phone. Sam took it and fiddled with it for a few seconds, his nose scrunching up in concentration. Tobey glanced down at him with his prominent glare and scoffed.

“You have no idea what you’re doing, do you?” He said harshly. I flinched at his tone, but from the shift in his shoulders, what seemed like a harsh and angry tone to me, must have sounded like a light-hearted amused tone to both Toby and Sam. Was I being paranoid about him, or was he really as intense as I thought?

“Shut up, it’s been forever since I’ve had to deal with this kind of phone. I’ve been on the IPhone ever since it came out. It was like my first phone, so what do I know about sliding phones?” Sam said defensively. Toby rolled his eyes and snatched the phone out of Sam’s hands.

“Let me do it.” He snarled, opening the phone and typing away. This thumbs moved at lightning speed and I had trouble keeping track of his fingers. Even I couldn’t type that fast and I’d been using that phone for years. He slapped it shut and tossed it to me abruptly, causing me to yelp and catch it barely, almost dropping it.

“Text me a time later. Come on, dumbass, let’s get to practice.” Toby said tersely, before shoving Sam’s head down the hall. Sam turned around and gave me a happy wave before punching his friend on the arm, scolding him for something.

I watched them go in silence, the phone still resting preciously in my palm. I swallowed bile in my throat and opened my phone to see the new contacts. Toby King and Sam Hanta. I blinked at Toby’s last name. It almost seemed fitting from the way he towered over everyone and never lost the glare on his face that struck fear into my spine. It only seemed fitting that his last name matched his strange authority over the world around him.

I sighed and turned around to walk out of the school. Now I had a huge dilemma on my hands. How the hell was I going to tutor someone who always looked like he wanted to murder me?


	3. King of the Court - Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is a short story I wrote for one of my writing classes in high school. I based the characters off of Kageyama and Hinata.  
> Because of that, the character names are different (because I obvi couldn't turn in a fanfiction for my class lol)  
> So just for context:  
> Leah = Reader  
> Hillary = Yachi Hitoka  
> Sam Hanta = Hinata Shoyo  
> Toby King = Kageyama Tobio

Part 2:

“None of this makes any sense!” I flinched as Toby’s hand hit the table in frustration. We had been sitting in the town library for what seemed like eight hours, now. It had already been three days since I’d received his phone number, and this was only the first time we’d actually gotten together. Needless to say, it was going horrible.

“Please, Toby, just look at the question. It’s asking for a simple differentiation. You don’t need all this work.” I begged, pointing at the Calculus book. Toby’s frowned deepened as he stared at the page with tired eyes. I hated it when he was angry. Though, it was true I had never really seen him when he wasn’t angry. His eyebrows furrowed as he glanced from his work, to mine, then at the book.

“What the hell do they mean ‘find a differentiable and continuous function’? Isn’t a continuous function the same thing as a differential one?” He asked, pointing his finger accusingly at my work. I sighed and shook my head, turning my attention to my own notebook.

Our workbooks were significantly different. His were scribbled and incoherent, where mine were neat and organized. But for some reason, he just couldn’t get it even though it was laid out in front of him.

“A continuous function just means that the function is defined everywhere on the interval. A differentiable function means that the function’s _derivative_ , or slope, is defined everywhere on the interval. So a continuous function can be either differentiable or not, but a differentiable function is _always_ continuous.” I tried to explain calmly, pointing at the highlighted definitions.

“Your stupid notes are not helping at all. What is the difference between a rate, slope, and derivative?” I sighed in frustration as he brushed away my notes and pointed at his own page. He was horribly stubborn and hated being wrong about everything, even though he knew he was wrong. I couldn’t get anything to go past his massive ego. He was always convinced that it was either my fault or the problem’s fault.

“They are all the same thing. Derivative means slope, which in turn means rate. They are all the same.” I said as calm as I could, my voice shaking from barely controlled anger. Toby brushed my notebook aside again as I tried to put it in front of him and shut his own notebook angrily.

“That makes no sense. Why call it different things if they mean the same thing? This is ridiculous and not helping. I can’t learn anything from you.” He sat back as his eyes darkened in anger. I tried to tell myself that he was only blaming me because he was upset, but I could feel anger flare in my stomach. Who did he think he was, criticizing _my_ notes and _my_ teaching when I was putting in _my_ time to teach _him_?

“Maybe I’m not the problem.” I snapped before I could stop myself. “Maybe you’re just too thick-skulled to understand anything of importance.” My eyes widened and I blushed hard out of embarrassment from my retort. It was immature and snotty and I felt so ashamed. Toby’s eyes shifted to mine and I almost collapsed under the glare he was giving me.

His eyes gave me a poignant glower with such ferocity that I wanted nothing more than to crumble. I felt my knees shake and buckle before he stood up abruptly, anger apparent in his stance and knocking the seat over behind him. His eyes were molten as they stared me down and I felt myself shrinking smaller and smaller under his gaze. He grabbed his bag and tossed it over his shoulder before pursing his lips and hissing at me through gritted teeth.

“I’m leaving. Next time, you better have some actual teaching skills or I’m finding another tutor.” With that, he turned on his heel and stalked out the door, leaving me trembling in both fear and indignation at the table.

When the initial fear finally subsided because I was no longer under his terrifying gaze, angry heat filled my stomach. How dare he criticize me when he was the one not understanding the material? I was doing the best I could and he had the audacity to yell at me for wasting my time with him. If he wanted to find another tutor, he could go right ahead, because there was no way I could spend another session with the likes of him.

Angrily, I shoved my notebook and calculus textbook in my bag and stood up as abruptly as he had only a moment ago. I felt the anger subside slightly and shame fill the pit of my stomach instead. Was I too hard on him? Did I try to teach him too much in one session? He was not stupid, that much was certain. In fact, he was incredibly smart. He understood the way to solve a problem and the mechanical way of doing things, but he had trouble figuring out how it all fit together.

I sighed and picked up the fallen chair. Maybe I had tried to pull everything together too quickly. The beginning of the session had been quite smooth. He showed me his problems and I showed him his errors, most of which he understood right away. It was when he decided to move into the overall concepts that he started to get frustrated. He’d been blaming me and my notes all through the session and each time, I’d become increasingly more annoyed.

In retrospect, I realized that I should have stopped once we had reached the two-hour mark. Now it was black outside and I still had to walk four blocks to get home. Toby had a car, so I was pretty sure he had already left. It wasn’t like he was going to give me a ride home anyway.

Just as I was about to leave, I looked back at the table and paused. Toby’s blue notebook was still lying there, after he had closed it angrily. I sighed and picked it up, opening it as I walked out of the library. I walked through the dark, chilly streets and flipped through his notebook. Most of his notes weren’t even notes. They were doodles of something I couldn’t decipher because of the night. I knew it was probably bad that I was going through his stuff, but I wanted to find out more about him. He was a conundrum that I wanted to understand.

The only times there was actually any math in the book was when he copied definitions. There weren’t any problems or practice in this notebook, which probably explained why he was failing. I flipped to the back and saw that he had written a list of words and little pictures next to the word. I could barely make out the symbol, but I understood that it was a hand bent to some position.

He was finite artist, I noticed. He drew very realistically and yet simply enough to be comprehensive. I recognized the thumbs-up signal and peace sign. I couldn’t read the scribbles next to it, but I did understand one thing. He did absolutely no actual math in this notebook.

As I got closer to my house, my phone started to buzz in my pocket. I pulled it out and frowned at the caller ID. I contemplated answering for a few seconds before pressing the green phone button and holding it to my ear.

“Hello?” I asked timidly. Sam’s loud voice rang through the phone in response, causing me to flinch slightly.

“Leah? Hey, it’s Sam! I just wanted to check up to see how Toby’s doing?” I cringed and bit my lower lip, not entirely sure how to answer his question.

“Um… well he left a while ago. I’m walking home now.” I said quietly, mumbling slightly. I was hoping that Sam wouldn’t understand me, but his loud voice told me otherwise.

“He didn’t drive you home? What a jerk, don’t worry I’ll talk to him tomorrow. Did he at least learn anything useful?” I gulped again and tucked Toby’s notebook under my arm. I took a breath and decided to just come out and tell Sam the truth. Maybe he could help me.

“Actually, no he didn’t. We were okay for the first hour, but then he started getting angry and frustrated. He blamed me for not understanding and yelled at me for not teaching him right. What is his problem, anyway? I can’t figure it out. He said he was going to find another tutor if I didn’t step up my game, can you believe it? I just don’t get it and I’m so frustrated.” I let out, feeling the air rush out of me. I didn’t realize how much I was holding in.

“I had a feeling this would happen.” Sam said dully after a few beats. “I’m really sorry about what he’s putting you through. I promise he doesn’t mean to be so critical and nasty. It’s just in his nature to blame other people. And most of the time, he’s right to blame others.”

“I don’t get it. Why does he feel like nothing is his fault?”

“Because nothing usually is. In volleyball anyway. You know he’s our setter, right?” I nodded, before I realized he couldn’t see me and verbally affirmed his question. “Well, before high school, he was the best player on his team. He was the only one who understood the game in ways even the coach couldn’t. He knew where to stand, where to toss, the opponents’ strategies and everything just by looking at the court for a few seconds. However, he didn’t have any support from his team, so he had to literally do everything himself. He had to toss the ball places where there was no block because he couldn’t trust his spikers to break through it.” I couldn’t understand a lot of Sam’s volleyball lingo, but I got the gist. Toby was the only good player, so he had to carry the team.

“Because of that, he never made a mistake. He was always on point, it was his teammates who were at fault. And when he came to high school, that mindset of having to do everything alone was still there. Of course, now he had actual good members to play with so the habit had subsided mostly. But it’s hard to break a habit you’ve grown up with. He’s used to blaming others because it’s never his fault, truly. When he does make a mistake, in volleyball anyway, he’ll acknowledge it and do everything he can to fix it. This is new territory for him. He’s never been the inferior one doing anything. Now that you’re sitting there, obviously better at him, I think he feels threatened. I don’t think any of it is your fault.”

I let Sam’s words sink in and we sat in a pause for a few more seconds. It made sense that he was blaming me for all of his frustrations now. If I could only find a way to make him see that he is smart enough to keep up with me and he can do it without blaming his mistakes on others, I could get through to him. I just had to figure out how to do that.

“Don’t take his outbursts personally, okay? He really doesn’t mean any of it. After a few sessions, it should click.” Sam’s words were reassuring, but there was underlying doubt in his tone. Sam was afraid that I would give up, or Toby would. I still hadn’t said anything when Sam’s voice lifted up slightly. “Why don’t you come to our practice tomorrow? You and Toby can leave right after and maybe you’ll figure out a way to approach this from watching him play volleyball.” I swallowed and contemplated his offer. I didn’t have any other ideas, so I accepted and ended the call.

By the time I’d put my phone away, I was at my house. I walked up the front steps and grabbed the spare key in the large plant next to the door. I opened the front door and trudged inside, now feeling the exhaustion from the day. My parents were sitting in the living room watching Law and Order. Usually, I watched it with them, but I really didn’t feel like watching TV today. I waved at my parents and dropped my bag in the kitchen before grabbing the box of hot pocket from the fridge.

Popping the hot pockets in the microwave, I sat at the island with Toby’s notebook. I flipped to the end and looked at the list of hand symbols. Now I could read his scribbles and saw that he had listed at least a dozen plays and which hand signal corresponded to which play. I raised my eyebrows as I flipped back to look at his other doodles. I realized they weren’t doodles. They were drawings of volleyball courts and arrows, most likely corresponding to another player or the ball. He had been thinking about volleyball strategies during his math class.

I hadn’t seen the rest of his books, but I was pretty sure I’d find that most of his doodles weren’t doodles at all. They were all elaborate plays and strategies. I supposed I now had one puzzle piece that was Toby King. Toby King literally lived and breathed volleyball.


	4. King of the Court - Part 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is a short story I wrote for one of my writing classes in high school. I based the characters off of Kageyama and Hinata.  
> Because of that, the character names are different (because I obvi couldn't turn in a fanfiction for my class lol)  
> So just for context:  
> Leah = Reader  
> Hillary = Yachi Hitoka  
> Sam Hanta = Hinata Shoyo  
> Toby King = Kageyama Tobio

I timidly pushed the gym door open, gripping onto my bag strap after school the next day. My knuckles had turned white from gripping the strap too hard. I could hear the bouncing of balls and the pounding of footsteps coming from inside, and I had to reassure myself that I was okay, that everything would be fine. I slid in through the door and leaned my back against it as it clicked shut.

The school gym was probably the only place in this school that I hadn’t spent more than ten minutes inside, on the first day or freshman year for orientation. Stepping inside, I was on the upper level. There was an upper level of stands surrounding the gym in a big square with no middle. It I tried to step over the rail, I would plummet to the basketball court below, and probably break my next.

The lower level was the basketball court. It was a multi-purpose surface so it was use for both basketball and volleyball during the respective season. The other rooms on the lower level belonging to the changing rooms and the coaches’ offices. The upper level was meant for fans, the lower one meant for the actual players and coaches. Needless to say, I had never once been on the lower level.

I crept over to the rail and peered over the side to get a better view of what was going on. From up here, I could see the whole court with clarity. There were four volleyball nest set up, with the basketball hoops put away. One the two nets farthest from me, the girls’ volleyball team was stretching. On the two closest to me, the boys were jogging around to warm up. I held onto my bag like a lifeline and slowly lowered myself into a seat to watch.

Sam and Toby were leading the pack of boys, both of them running much faster than the rest. Every time Sam would pick up speed, Toby would as well to match it and vice versa. I immediately saw the teammate rivalry between the two. I smiled. They were partners, but they were rivals as well and that’s probably what motivated them to do well in volleyball.

After they jogged, they started to work on blocks. Three at a time, they would run to the net, jump, then take a few steps back and run to the other side and jump again. It made me tired, just watching them. Toby was one of the tallest players on that team. His jump was so high and his arms reached so far over the net that I didn’t know how any ball could ever get past him. Sam, on the other hand, when he came up to jump I wasn’t sure how that was going to go.

I was taken completely by surprise when he ran to the net and jumped higher than any of the taller boys in his group. My eyes widened as his feet rose past the other boy’s knees. Now I understood why he could play volleyball when he was so short. He had so much jumping power and he could probably have more stamina than everyone, except for maybe Toby.

Sam ran back to the end of the line and looked up. When he saw me, he grinned and waved. I timidly waved back, feeling slightly awkward. Sam’s enthusiastic greeting caught the attention of his teammates, including a certain angry setter. I blinked as my eyes connected with Toby’s and I felt weak at the knees again. He stared at me in shock, and to me, it looked like he was furious that I was here. But then he looked away, like he hadn’t noticed me at all, and went back to practice.

I watched as the boys did their warm-up drills and began to actually use volleyballs. They were practicing spikes and receives when a girl ran onto the court, completely out of breath. She wasn’t a part of the volleyball team because she was wearing a track suit. She was short, like Sam, and had neck length blond hair that was half tied up in a ponytail. Sam jogged over to her as she raised her head and apologized for being late.

Sam laughed and gripped her shoulders as she held up a clipboard. Sam was inching closer to her and I felt my cheeks heat up in understanding. I averted my eyes as they shared a passionate kiss. It seemed silly to me that I assumed Sam was single. Of course, he should have a girlfriend. His optimism and enthusiasm was contagious. I had barely known him for more than a few days and even I was drawn to his positivity.

The boys started to play three-on-three practice matches as the blond girl stepped to the side. Toby and Sam were on the same team with a tanned by with a buzz cut. Their opponents were a very tall blond boy with sports glasses, a broad-shouldered black-haired boy with a kind face, and a skinny boy with maroon colored hair and freckles. I leaned closer on my seat. Now I could really get to see them play.

The other team served and the buzz cut boy received the ball easily. I leaned forward as Toby positioned himself under the ball. Even from up here, I could see the gears rolling in his head. His eyes were everywhere, the other side, the ball, the opponents, the ball, his teammates, the ball.

Suddenly, Sam burst forward when incredible speed, running to the edge of the court and umping. Toby hadn’t even tossed the ball and Sam was already swinging. Toby tossed the ball right as Sam’s hand swung down and timed the ball perfectly to Sam’s point of contact. It was too fast for me to see. In a spit second, Toby had tossed the ball and Sam had slammed the ball down with no one there to receive it.

I gaped at the scene as Sam shouted in victory and Toby pumped his fist with a wide, scary grin. I only had one thought, watching that play. That was amazing. I had no idea how Toby was able to pinpoint the toss with that much accuracy. And the fact that Sam hit the toss like it was nothing was incredible. I couldn’t tell who was more impressive, the toss or the spike.

The game continued and Toby and Sam used that crazy spike a few more time. Most of the time, though, Toby tossed normally to either one of his spikers with flawless technique. His spikers always spiked with perfect form because the toss was always there. The tall blond boy on the other side was a skilled blocker, but Toby understood that. He did everything he could to keep the ball away from the blocker.

I was starting to get the hang of the game as I watched. I understood that once the ball was on your side of the net, you could only hit it three times and then it had to go back over. Once, I saw that the buzz cut boy had received a ball badly and Sam had to do the toss, not Toby. Toby called for the toss anyway and Sam bumped it up high. I watched in awe as Toby, who was supposed to be a setter, ran, jumped and spiked the ball with perfect form and flawless accuracy. Another time, Toby jumped up to toss, but then lightly tapped the ball over the net before the blocker could react. I gaped in surprise. Was he allowed to do that? The blocker looked very annoyed, but he didn’t call a foul or a penalty or whatever. Needless to say, Toby was incredible.

From watching the practice, I started to understand Toby a bit better. He belonged on this court. This was his home, his place to be. He was born to play volleyball, and I could already see how successful he was going to be in the sport. He was crazy intelligent, like a volleyball genius. Toby King seemed like a fitting name. He was like the King of the volleyball court. And somehow, just knowing how smart he could be and how much effort he could put into to anything, made me feel much better. I knew I could work with him now. Now that I knew where he heart was, I could figure out how to get through to him on a personal level.

Now left the big question. How was I going to incorporate volleyball into our study sessions?

My phone buzzed and I glanced down at it. I smiled at the text from my mom, telling me that she brought home some leftovers and that she was going to make lasagna for dinner to go with the lovely pastries from her bakery. I loved my mom. She would know exactly what to do in this situation.

Feeling rejuvenated, I stood up and waved down at Sam and Toby before striding out of the gym. Now I had my own homework to do. And this time, it had to do with volleyball.


	5. King of the Court - Part 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is a short story I wrote for one of my writing classes in high school. I based the characters off of Kageyama and Hinata.  
> Because of that, the character names are different (because I obvi couldn't turn in a fanfiction for my class lol)  
> So just for context:  
> Leah = Reader  
> Hillary = Yachi Hitoka  
> Sam Hanta = Hinata Shoyo  
> Toby King = Kageyama Tobio

Part 4:

Two days later, Toby still hadn’t come up to me to ask for another session. I wasn’t that worried. It gave me more time to plan out how I was going to tutor him. After going through his notebook, and of course returning it to his locker, I discovered that he had a really good memory because he was able to memorize all those signals in volleyball. If I could somehow use that to my advantage, I would be able to get through to him. Hopefully.

My mom waved at me for a few seconds before running out the door, that morning, while I was slurping my cereal very unattractively. She and I had talked a lot about Toby and it was her that suggested trying to use his memory and volleyball intelligence to my advantage. My father burst into the kitchen a few minutes after mom left and grabbed a banana from the fruit bowl. He killed me on the cheek, wished me a good day, and then he was gone as well. I had a very scatterbrained family. Both of them were mostly likely going to be late.

I glanced at the time and almost choked on my cereal. I was going to be late too.

I jumped off my stool and dumped the remaining milk and cereal into the sink. I grabbed my bag and rushed out the door. Luckily, like with most places, I was close enough to walk. It usually took me a good ten minutes to walk to school, seven if I speed-walked.

I managed to make it into my first class right as the bell rung, and collapsed in my seat at the back of the classroom, out of breath and exhausted. Fortunately, my mood was lifted when I received my Calculus test back. A 97 was pretty okay by my standards. I made a silly mistake to warrant a three-point deduction, and I was kind of bummed about that, but otherwise, I was happy.

The rest of school passed pretty uneventfully. I handed in my history paper that I’d been working on for a week. My mom left me a pastry in my lunch. I had to go to the office to get my locker combination because somebody unjammed my locker and I’d forgotten the combination (no one ever bothered to steal anything anyway, because all I had were boring textbooks). I was about to leave school at the end of the day, having done nothing of importance, when I heard someone yelling at me from down the hall.

I closed my locker and turned my head, wondering who it could be. I swallowed bile and my palms started sweating as I saw the Toby’s straight black hair towering over the sea of teenagers, bustling around the main hall. He waved at me and I cringed at his harsh face, once again. His navy eyes were burning holes in my skin as he shoved his way through the hall. Most kids parted for him, since he was so tall and broad. Those who didn’t, paid dearly when he shoved them out of the way unmercifully.

My hands were shaking when he finally reached my locker. He roughly slammed his shoulder against the locker next to us in an attempt to lean casually. It only caused me to jump at the impact. We hadn’t talked in a while, and I must have forgotten how scary he was because I could get myself to look into his eyes.

“We have a practice match today.” He said tersely, getting straight to the point. I blinked, forcing myself to look up. I had forgotten how much taller he was than me. “I want to have a study session tonight though. But the match will go late, probably. Can you do it?” I blinked again and was at a loss for words for a few seconds. I gulped and shook my head, trying to snap myself out of the trance.

“Yeah… uh, you can just come over to my house when you’re done. I’ll… uh, I’ll send you my address.” I said in broken sentences. Toby nodded and turned around abruptly, stalking off without looking back.

I let out a breath I didn’t even know I was holding and lifted my hand to my racing heart. I knew he didn’t mean to act so scary and murderous, but I just couldn’t get myself to calm down when he gave me that ferocious glare. I turned round, still breathing heavily and walked out of school, pulling my phone out and sending my address to him. This had been the second text I’d ever sent him. The first had been a question to ask if he wanted to meet at the library. He’d answered with one word: okay. I tried not to overthink the meaning behind the one word too much.

As I was nearing my house, I got a text back from him with one more word: thanks. No capitalization or punctuation, just the word, a confirmation. He was definitely coming over today. I tried not to think too much about it. He was coming to study because he wanted to play volleyball. That’s the only reason. I needed to stop thinking it was something more. And it didn’t help that he would be the first boy to ever enter my house. Unless you counted my second grade birthday party where my whole class was invited, which I don’t.

I got home and walked inside, still staring at the one-word text in contemplation. My cheeks were red and I was pretty sure I looked like a wreck from overthinking. My mom met me at the door with a wide grin on her face. I forced Toby out of my mind and tucked my phone away, looking at her in question.

“I came home early today because I got a call from your father. Guess what came in the mail today?” She asked excitedly. From the way she waiting for my reaction, I knew it could only be one thing. All troubles that were in my mind vanished as my bag fell to the floor, my mouth lifting into a grin.

“My letter?” I asked. Mom nodded and beckoned into the kitchen. I felt my stomach flip and I all but sprinted into the kitchen with my mom laughing behind me. My father was waiting at the kitchen counter with his camera. I looked at the letter on the table and picked it up slowly, like I was afraid it would shatter if I dropped it. It was still sealed, which meant my parents hadn’t opened it yet. None of us knew what it contained.

“I’m so proud of you, baby.” Dad said fondly, flipping his camera open. My hands shook as I slipped my finger under the envelope flap. This letter contained my future. In my hand I would know exactly what I was going to do next year. This letter would tell me what my future would be like. Either I had a future in college, or I was nothing. This letter was everything.

I started to open it carefully, I didn’t want to rip it in case my parents wanted to preserve the envelope. I pulled it open and pulled the paper out from inside. Slowly, I unfolded the paper as my dad began to record. With bright eyes, I began to read the words on the page. I read it once. Then I read it again. And again. My smiled vanished and I let the letter fall. My parents looked at me expectantly, but when I didn’t say anything, they understood.

“Oh, baby.” My father immediately stopped recording as my mother circled around to give me hug. I allowed her to hold me, but I stood stiff. I was still trying to understand. I was still trying to comprehend. My father came to hug me next. They were both hugging me, whispering that it was okay, that I would be okay. It’s their loss, they were saying. You don’t need to go to that school. You will succeed anywhere you go. I couldn’t hear them.

“I’m okay.” I managed to let out. My father released me, but mother still held on. She knew I wasn’t okay. How could I be okay? She whispered that she was proud of me, that she loved me. I allowed her to kiss me and I gave her a forced smile. My eyes were glazed and it was like I watching everything in a haze in slow motion.

I don’t really remember everything that happened next. I managed to tell my parents that I was okay. That I would be okay. That I just needed to be alone. I needed to deal with this on my own. My parents agreed with me, they supported me. I vaguely remember my dad guiding me to sit down. They hugged me again, kissed me again. They were proud of me. They still loved me no matter what. They understood what I was going through. We would get through this together.

Then they were gone. Out of the house. They told me why, but I wasn’t listening. Everything was muffled, like there was some interference or static, keeping from hearing anything clearly. I don’t know how long I sat there, staring into space.

Finally, I forced myself out of the trance. I made myself take a shower. I changed into my pajamas and walked back into the kitchen. I made myself eat some leftover pizza. Then I grabbed the tub of ice cream from the freezer and walked to the living room to watch TV. I needed to distract myself. I couldn’t think about it. If I thought about, I was sure to start panicking or freaking out. So I tried to find the dumbest show on and watch it so my brain could vegetate and forget.

Two of the contestants on The Bachelor had started fighting with each other because both of them thought the other had lied, or something, when the doorbell rang. I muted the TV and stood up, still with my, now half empty, tub of cookie dough ice cream. I took in another scoop of goodness and begrudgingly walked to the door, after yet another ring. I was about to open the door when the bell rang again. Whoever it was, was extremely impatient.

I opened the door and my stony gaze connected with Toby’s harsh, navy one. I gasped, the spoon in my mouth, and almost dropped the ice cream right in front of me. I held onto the bucket with both hands, dropping the spoon inside and looked up at him in shock. He was giving me a disapproving look and pulled the strap of his bag over his shoulder. He was still wearing his workout clothes and his face and chest were damp from sweat. I had to force myself not to look at the way his shirt stuck to his chest.

“Oh my gosh.” I managed to blurt out. “I forgot you were coming!” Toby glanced at my attire and my ice cream bucket and I felt my cheeks burn. I looked down at what I was wearing and felt embarrassment rush to my stomach and my face.

“Obviously,” He said, rolling his eyes at my Little Mermaid shirt and Winnie the Pooh fleece pants. I gulped and opened the door wider.

“Um… you can come in, I guess.” I said, stepping to the side. Toby walked inside, without thanking me or acknowledging I’d even said a word to him. I breathed out and shut the door behind him, taking in another scoop of ice cream. I wanted to try and cool my cheeks so they would stop burning.

I walked in behind Toby and saw that he was staring at the muted television. I gulped and blushed again, rushing into the living room and switching the TV off. He looked around in contempt and I saw his nose twitch. I couldn’t understand if he was degrading my house, or if he was just twitching his nose. His eyes lingered on the tub of ice cream in my hands and I thought for a second that he probably had nothing to eat.

“Why don’t you go in the dining room and I’ll grab us something to eat?” Toby looked in my eyes for the first time and nodded, shuffling away. He still hadn’t said anything, but I didn’t think that was strange. He was a pretty quiet person as it was. I walked into the kitchen and popped in a bag of popcorn in the microwave before grabbing two bowls and scooping ice cream into them.

When I walked into the dining room with the popcorn and ice cream, Toby was sitting at the table with his arms covering his head. I paused at the door, watching as his shoulder shook. Was he crying? No, his shoulders weren’t shaking uncontrollably, like if he was sobbing. They were shaking because he was angry. I gulped and tentatively stepped inside. His head jerked up as he saw me coming and I flinched at the look he gave me. His eyes were bloodshot, but free of moisture and his cheeks were white. He was furious. With me? With himself? I couldn’t tell.

“I… uh—here’s some popcorn. And ice cream of you… if you want.” I mumbled, putting the bowls of food next to him. He glanced at the bowl, but made no move to grab them. Then he looked at me and I involuntarily winced, before pulling out the chair next to him and cautiously sitting down. He continued to stare at me as I pulled my bag closer to me. I looked at him, flinched at his harsh stare and reached in for a notebook.

“Do you—um… do you want to start?” I asked timidly, placing my math notebook in between us. He looked at the notebook, sighed, and looked at me again. Every time he looked at me, I felt like an electric shock jolted through my body, causing me to react every time he did. His star was just so threatening and harsh that I couldn’t stop my body from jerking every time he looked at me.

“Stop doing that.” He ordered. I blinked, confused and peered up into his eyes. His eyebrows were furrowed and I immediately felt threatened. But then I realized he was looking at me in concern, not contempt. If I stared for a little while, I could see the creases by his eyes that only appeared if he was cringing at something, not glaring.

“Stop doing what?” I asked, trying to stop my voice from trembling. He looked away and then looked back at me again, right into my eyes this time, sending my body a spontaneous jolt.

“That.” He said, pointing at me. I tilted my head in confusion, not fully understanding. “Every time I look at you, you flinch. Every damn time. Stop it.” he demanded. I blinked again, feeling my body about to flinch again. I forced myself to suppress the instinct and took a breath.

“I’m sorry.” I said, looking away. I could only be under his stare for a few minutes at a time before my knees started shaking. “I can’t help it.”

“Why do you do that?” He asked, shifting his body slightly so he was facing me. He was making it harder for me not to look him in the eyes.

“Um… well—I don’t know. I just… I mean—you have such a harsh glare, it’s hard for me not to flinch.” I managed to let out. I didn’t want to hurt his feelings. He looked away, giving me the opportunity to look back at him. He was looking at his hands, like he’d been told that a million times.

“This is just my face.” He said. “I don’t know how to look at people other than how I do now. This is just me. What else am I supposed to do? I was born with this face.” He complained, throwing his head back slightly. I stared at him, not entirely sure what to say. I blinked a few times, staring at the contours of his cheeks and the way his mouth naturally turned down. There was a slight kindness behind the curves of his lips. Now that I was studying his face, it didn’t look as angry. It looked more determined and defiant.

“Have you tried smiling at people more?” I asked. I felt really stupid, asking that question, but Toby sighed just looking sad. He covered his face with his hands.

“I can’t smile.” He mumbled through his fingers. I tilted my head in confusion.

“What are you talking about? Of course you can. Go ahead and try, I promise I won’t flinch.” I said, shifting my body so I was now facing him square on. Toby peered at me through his fingers and saw that I was serious. He sighed and removed his hands from his face, looking me right in the eyes. His smile couldn’t be that bad, I thought to myself. Everyone can smile to some extent. How bad could it be?

Toby’s eyes narrowed as his lips curled inward to reveal his teeth. My eyes widened as the corners of his lips tilted up and he began to grin at me like he had just committed a murder. His eyes were small and grinning, but it wasn’t a pleasant smile. It was a terrifying smile. I gulped and forced my instincts down. Toby noticed my discomfort and immediately stopped smiling.

“See?” He said in defeat. “I told you. My smile is worse.” He looked away and suddenly, I felt so much sympathy for him. I smiled slightly and leaned forward, taking his wrists so he would look at me. His eyes widened at the contact, but he didn’t withdraw.

“You’re smile isn’t bad, Toby. You can definitely use it to your advantage if you wanted.” I smiled slightly and saw his lips twitch in amusement. “But why don’t you try a calmer smile, first? Just lips, no teeth.” He looked at me for a few seconds before chuckling humorlessly and looking away.

“I can’t believe you’re trying to teach me how to smile. We’re supposed to be working on math.” My own smile faded and I released his writs, leaning back in my seat.

“I don’t want to work today.” I admitted honestly. Toby looked at me and crossed his arms.

“Yeah, me neither.” He said. A dark wave passed over his face and his mouth tilted downward in a harsh frown. I had to catch myself from flinching again. “We lost today.” He said, clenching his fists. I peered into his eyes, but he wasn’t looking at me. He gritted his teeth and grimaced slightly, closing his eyes in shame. “We lost because of _me_.” he added, rubbing the bridge of his nose.

I remained quiet, not entirely sure what to say. He looked at me, probably wondering if I was even paying attention. When he saw that I was, he sighed and threw his arms up in exasperation.

“I was playing like an idiot!” He cried out. “I made all the mistakes. I _never_ make mistakes. It’s all my fault and now I come here and I can’t even look at you without making you flinch and run away.” I stayed silent, understanding that he needed to purge. He needed to scream and yell. And as scary as it was to have him yell, even if it wasn’t at me, I had to stay strong.

“Volleyball is all I have.” He continued. “Volleyball is everything to me. I can’t do anything besides this damn sport. I spend all my time and energy on the sport. I spend all my time on it, so I have to be perfect. If I can’t even win a game without making mistakes, then there’s not point. Everything I’ve worked for has been for nothing, because it’s all I have.” He slammed his fist on the table, and this time I jumped. He gulped and lifted his fist back up, muttering an apology. My heartbeat sped up, but I tried to remain calm.

“Toby, I haven’t known you for very long.” I began, taking a deep breath. “We didn’t start off on the right foot. In fact, I thought you were the most obnoxious jerk I’d ever met.” Toby glared at me, and this time, instead of cringing, I smiled. “But even in this short time, I know that you were born to play volleyball. I watched your practice. You were incredible. And maybe you never make mistakes usually. But if you never really made any mistakes, you wouldn’t be human. Everyone has a bad day. I think you’re amazing. I really envy you and everything you have going for you.”

Now he was looking at me curiously. I blushed hard, once the words were out of my mouth. I wasn’t entirely sure how I was still able to look into his eyes without crumbling. Toby shifted and tilted his head at me, like he was trying to figure me out.

“You know, you say that, but it should be me that envies you. I know I was really mean to you, and I never got the chance to apologize. You were just so patient and understanding even though I was so dumb. I couldn’t understand anything and yet you still tried to calmly teach t to me. You’re so smart, I wish I could have that.” My blush subsided and I felt an icy sheet wrap around my heart. I looked away and scowled at my math notebook.

“Yeah, a fat lot of good it did me.” I hissed, causing Toby to react in surprise. I don’t think I’d ever said something in that way in front of him, ever. the thought of the letter flashed in my head and I clenched my fists, feeling anger bubble up in my stomach.

“What are you talking about?” Toby asked. “You are amazing. I don’t know how you’re able to be the smartest kid in our grade. It seems impossible to me.”

“Not good enough.” I snapped, shaking my head. “Not good enough.” I repeated, anger subsiding and pure panic rising in its place. “I didn’t get in.” Toby tilted his head, waiting for me to explain. I gritted my teeth, feeling tears prick the back of my eyes. “I didn’t get in!” I yelled. “I didn’t get in to the one school that I wanted to go with everything I had. Everything I’ve done in school, I did to get into that damn school. Everything I’ve worked for has been to get into that school. And I didn’t get in. everything I’ve done it for nothing. All these good grades are pointless now. They mean nothing. I’m not good enough.” Toby’s eyes widened in realization. He understood now.

“That’s not true.” He said quietly. I felt a wave of anger and this time, it was my turn to bang my fist on the table.

“Yes it is!” I shouted, my voice cracking. “I have _nothing_ but my academics. I’m not athletic. I don’t have friends. I’m not in any clubs. My parents don’t have that much money. I have nothing but my school work. And now, not even that is enough.” I covered my face with my hands to hide the tears threatening to fall. One tear slipped past my barrier and I brushed it away before it had the time to even begin its journey down my cheek. Toby was quiet and I immediately felt bad. I turned back to him, ducking my head down.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to put that on you. Let’s just forget about this, okay? So, should we do math first?” I moved my notebook closer, and in an attempt to look normal, I grabbed a handful of popcorn and stuffed it in my mouth. Toby gave me a look that I ignored. “So, derivatives.” I said, pointing to the problem in the book.

“Leah,” Toby closed the book, as my eyes widened. This was the first time he’d ever said my name. It rolled off his tongue easily and for some reason, I felt a chill roll down my spine. “You don’t have to apologize. I think you needed that.” I blushed again and withdrew my hands from the notebook. “I’m sorry you didn’t get into the school you wanted. But that doesn’t mean your life is over. That school will regret not taking you.” His hand suddenly reached out and touched my wrist. My eyes widened and I looked up at him.

“You’re too good for them anyway.” He said, his lips lifting up. My eyes widened even further, if that was possible. “Besides, no one really cares about undergrad. Once you get to graduate school, that’s when you can start worrying. But I know that you’re going to kill it wherever you go, so you won’t have to worry.”

His words were warm and sincere, but there was something else that I was mesmerized by.

He was smiling. Yes, he was, just barely. His eyes softened and his lips were slightly curved up. It was involuntary, that much I could tell, but it seemed to transform his face in a way I never knew was possible. My own mouth parted as I stared at him. We stayed like that for a good ten seconds before I blinked and forced myself to look away, blushing hard. Toby cleared his throat and pulled away, scooping up some, now cold, popcorn.

“Uh, yeah, but anyway. Math.” He said, forcing himself to look at the book. I felt my mouth twitch and then I started laughing. Toby looked at me in surprise, which only fueled my laughter even more.

“Do you want to just call it day?” I asked, through my fit of laughter. “I don’t think we’ll be able to get anything done.” Toby chuckled, and even he began laughing. I tried not to stare, because I’d never seen him laugh before. He nodded at me and got up, pulling his bag over his shoulder.

“Thanks.” He said. “I guess we didn’t really study, but you helped me a lot. I’ll see you at school tomorrow.” I nodded and smiled at him, before he walked out of the dining room. I heard the front door shut behind him and buried my face in my arms. For some reason, I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face.


	6. King of the Court - Part 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is a short story I wrote for one of my writing classes in high school. I based the characters off of Kageyama and Hinata.  
> Because of that, the character names are different (because I obvi couldn't turn in a fanfiction for my class lol)  
> So just for context:  
> Leah = Reader  
> Hillary = Yachi Hitoka  
> Sam Hanta = Hinata Shoyo  
> Toby King = Kageyama Tobio

Part 5:

When my parents came home that night, they found me curled up in front of the TV, covered with a blanket like a cocoon. They asked if I wanted to talk, but I told them I was okay. And this time, I wasn’t lying. I really was okay. I was still bitter, and the thought of my future sent slight bits of fear into me, but I was really okay. What Toby had said really helped, even if it was just him trying to calm me down. Maybe I didn’t have anything but my academics, but that didn’t mean that academics were the only thing that defined me. I was more than just a GPA and it was high time I started showing that to the world.

Our next sessions over the course of the next two week went much smoother than the first two. Toby actively listened to what I had to say to him, and he really tried his hardest without breaking down when he made a mistake. Sometimes, he would get frustrated because he couldn’t understand a concept, but I was able to keep him from getting too angry by switching gears when he couldn’t understand one subject. We came back to that subject after a little while, and he was able to understand it better. I learned that giving him a chance to clear his head made it easier for him to understand the material in the end.

I learned that he was not a mechanical learner, especially in math. He couldn’t just see how a problem was done and do it, he wanted to understand why you did what you did to solve the problem. I supposed he was like this because of volleyball. He had to see everything everywhere all the time, and that’s why he couldn’t be mechanical in his movements. There had to be a reason for everything. This made it slightly more difficult for him to go through questions fast and easy. He took much more time on the problems because of this, so I was trying to help him solve problems mechanically.

I also used his memory to my advantage. When we were studying vocabulary, I had him associate a word to a volleyball signal, so all he had to do with do the signal and he would remember the words and definition. In math, I had him memorize all the important formulas and triggers in problems that would allow him to use those formulas. Because of his ability to memorize quickly and accurately, many of these sessions only took half an hour, and we’d go on to something else.

I was having great fun during sessions, even when he was having a bad day because during our conversations, I would try to say something to make him smile. He had smiled once before and I wanted to see it again, so it became a game. I’d try to drop little puns or jokes and see if I could get his face to transform like it had when he’d smiled for the first time. So far, I’d been unsuccessful. Even though I was getting used to his intense face, I really wanted to see that smile.

I also started watching his practices. I started to come to the gym after school and do some homework while the boys practiced below. I’d watch Toby practice harder than I’d ever seen, and the way Sam and his teammates would taunt him for being too focused, even for him. He wouldn’t pay any attention to them. He just wanted to get better. Once they were done, Toby and I either went to my house, or the library. It had become routine even if we’d only been at it for about a week.

The weekend finally arrived and Toby and I had agreed to meet on Saturday for about two hours. It was the weekend before the big tests at school that marked the beginning of spring break. If Toby passed all his exams, he would be able to participate in the tournament. The tournament took place over spring break, and when we came back afterwards, we only had two weeks under graduation. The end was coming way too quickly for me.

We sat in the library together, me working on a history paper, and him working on a practice math exam. He was sitting across from me, writing furiously on the page. I was timing him, and looked at my watch to see he had about twenty minutes left. I brought my eyes back to my computer screen and tried hard to keep typing, even though I was being distracted by the way his eyebrows were furrowed as he tried to think of the answer.

I couldn’t pretend that I hadn’t found him attractive during our time together. In fact, I only started finding him attractive after I knew what his smile looked like. He was adorable in his own way and I couldn’t help but smile at all his facial expressions, even the terrifying ones.

“I’m done.” He said suddenly, looking up. I blinked and looked at my watch, he still had fifteen minutes left.

“You can keep working if you want. You have fifteen minutes.” I said, pointing at the watch. Toby shook his head and started bouncing in his seat, impatiently.

“Grade it now, I wanna see what I got.” I smiled at his impatience and complied, pulling his exam toward me. I put my laptop aside and started to check his answers against the answers given to us. Every time I put an X mark, he would cringe. In the free response, I would write in some details or put and X mark where he did something wrong. He kept looking over at his exam, wondering how he did. When I’d finally finished, I calculated his answers against the grade put and had his score. I looked up at him dramatically as his eyes were wide, waiting for me to tell him. I waited for a few more agonizing seconds before I broke out into a large grin.

“82%.” I said, trying to tone down my excitement. Toby’s eyebrows shot to his hairline and his jaw dropped. This had been the highest he’d ever gotten on one of the math exams, and it would definitely ensure him a 3.0 grade point average.

“No way.” He said. I nodded, still grinning. “You’re lying to me.” I shook my head and suddenly, his scary smirk was one his face. “Wait till I tell Sam.” He said mischievously. I tried to burn the memory of that grin into my brain, but it was gone before I could snatch it. Maybe it wasn’t the smile I wanted, but it was still a smile nonetheless. Toby fished in his pocket for his phone and immediately pressed the first number on his speed dial. He held the phone to his ear, his eyes glinting with excitement.

“Hey Sam. Guess what? I got an 82 on the math exam, you can suck it with your 78. That’s right, I beat you! King one, Hanta zero!” He shouted triumphantly into the phone. I heard Sam yelling on the other end, but Toby had already hung up on him. He put the phone down and gave me an intense stare.

“Okay, so tell me what I did wrong.” I smiled internally and pushed his test in the middle so we could both see it. As I was explaining his mistakes, his phone started vibrating on the table with Sam’s caller ID on the screen. Toby scoffed and swiped ‘ignore’ before turning back to me. I gave him a questioning look and he sighed.

“I know Sam. He’ll be butthurt for a few minutes and want to yell at me, but then he’ll calm down. Just leave it.” He said simply. I took his word for it and went back to explaining his mistakes. Once we were finished, Toby informed me that he had practice that afternoon and had to go. As we were packing up, Toby picked up his practice exam like it was his most prized possession.

“I really owe you for this.” He said, carefully putting it in his bag. “I feel really bad, not paying you or anything.” I chuckled and shook my head.

“I don’t want your money. It’s actually kind of fun. I’m learning a lot, just like you. Maybe not about the schoolwork, but I’m learning a lot more than I would if I declined. Besides, now you’ll be able to play in the tournament and that’s a good enough reward for me.” I said, tossing my bag over my shoulder. Toby shrugged and looked away, like he was staring at something I couldn’t see.

“I haven’t passed yet.” He said matter-of-factly. “But I think that you have definitely prepared me. I’ll come find you after the exams. Luckily, they grade it on the spot so I’ll know what I got. Then you can come watch the tournament, and watch us win it.” His smirk was back and I found myself wanting to reach out and touch it to make sure it was real. I blinked and shook my head, trying to snap myself out of it.

“You bet. I know you got this. You’ll be amazing.” I said sincerely. Toby gave me one last look before nodding and walking out the door.

I watched him leave, feeling a strange sense of both pride and sadness at the same time. I was so happy that he was doing well and I really wanted him to succeed. But once he did, our study sessions would end. I wouldn’t get to spend time with him anymore.

From everything I did with him, I found that I really enjoyed his company. I no longer flinched when he glared at me, because I knew it wasn’t intentional. I liked teasing him and making little jokes, just to see him smile. He was the closest thing to a friend that I’d ever had and it saddened me that I no longer had an excuse to be with him. I was sure that after the tournament, we would go back to never speaking to each other. I didn’t even know who he was until the principal introduced him to me, so I knew that we’d never really crossed paths before. And it would probably stay that way after spring break.

Maybe I was just being paranoid, because on Monday, Toby came up to _me_ to wish me good luck. He promised he’d see me after exams and thanked me again for all my help. Sam had also come up to me to wish me luck and to thank me. He told me that Toby had been furious after losing the practice match, and Sam had expected him to sulk for at least another week. But after our ‘study session’ that night, he was more motivated than ever at practice.

“If we win this tournament, it’ll be because of you.” Sam said, smiling warmly at me. “He’s always been motivated, but ever since you started coming to practice, he’s not afraid to take risks anymore. If you ask me, I think he just wants to impress you.” Sam winked and sauntered away, leaving me beat red behind him.

Exams went on for two days. The first day was full of history, English, and languages. Today was humanities day and my hand was aching by the time I got out of English, the final exam. I was expecting to see Toby after the first day, but Sm informed me that he had headed home to study for the math and science exams the next day. I would have done the same, but I was so exhausted when I got home that I took a quick shower, ate something light and fell asleep.

During the last exam the next day, I was fidgeting uncontrollably in my seat. Answers flew across the page for the Calculus exam. I smiled at questions that I’d gone over with Toby. I really wanted to know how he did. Normally, I would be checking and double checking my work, but today, I was speeding through the questions as quickly and as meticulously as I could. I looked up at the clock to see that we had twenty minutes left in the exam. Students were already getting up to finish.

Now would usually be the point where I started panicking. I would start fretting that I didn’t have enough time to finish and beat myself up about not checking one of the answer. But as I flipped to the last page, all I could think about was finishing up. My fingers wrote down answers before I even processed what the question was. It took me all of three minutes to finish the last page. I put my pencil down and scanned over the exam, making sure I answered all of them. Satisfied, and ready to get the hell out, I stood up.

The teacher looked at me in surprise as I reached his desk. I passed him the answer key and he gave me a strange look before putting it in the machine to grade. He was probably wondering why I was up here, instead of checking my answers. Normally, he would have to pull me from my chair with his bare hands before I allowed the test to slip from my fingers. The machine finished grading my exam and the teacher started to fill out his portion of my report card. Once he finished he passed me the sheet and smiled.

“Well done, have a good break.” I grinned at him and wished him a happy break as well before all but sprinting out the door. I looked at my report card and smiled at the straight A’s filling the page. Even the calculus exam that I didn’t check over had a strong 97. I was proud, but it wasn’t over yet.

I searched the halls for a familiar tall boy with straight black hair that framed his face. I realized that I never knew where his locker was, and that we had always come to mine to talk. I had no idea where to start looking. When the bell rang, swarms of students began filing out of classes, excited for spring break. Being relatively short in stature, I was pushed to the side, unable to peer over the sea of students.

Signing, I resolved to push my way back to my locker. As I fought my way through the crowd, I saw a head of orange hair leaning against my own locker. I smiled. Sam.

I finally managed to make it to my locker and Sam grinned at me as I reached him. He pulled me into a large hug and showed me his report card of mostly C’s. I smiled and congratulated him, but I was looking for someone else. I finally figured that he was still in his class and began to open my locker to put my stuff away.

“ _Leah_!” My eyes widened as my name was called, booming over the almost deafening buzz of other students.

I turned around and saw Toby, running through the hall, shoving other students out of the way, waving his report card over his head. His eyes were wild and his cheeks were pink. But that’s not what held me the most. On his face was the largest grin I’d ever seen on anyone in my life. Like the smile he’d given me before, his whole face transformed into a beacon of light. There was no evil or murder etched on his face. It was a grin of pure innocence and bliss.

His smile, had me smiling as well and I spread my arms out as the much larger boy reached me. He passed me his report card with a barely held back shout of victory. I looked down on it and saw mostly B’s and C’s. Better than Sam’s and definitely enough to pass. I grinned and leapt up for joy. I cried out in victory and gasped as I felt Toby’s large hand reached under my armpits and lift me up. I laughed as he swung me around in a circle.

When he put me down, his eyes were still bright and beam still on his face. Before I knew what I was doing, my hand was on his cheek. My thumb ran over his smile, trying imprint it. It slowly faded and I frowned, wanting it to come back. I paused and looked back up at him. His eyes were glazed and he was giving me a strange look. Then I realized that my hand was still on his face. I gasped and jerked back, muttering an apology. I blushed hard and scolded myself for not controlling myself better. What was I thinking? He probably thought I was the weirdest person ever, now.

I heard a burst of laughter behind me, and turned toward it, trying not to look into Toby’s eyes for fear of his reaction at my weird face touching incident.

“You guys are so crazy. Anyway, we’re totally going to win this tournament, right King?” Sam was grinning at us with his arm around the little blond girl that I hadn’t noticed approach. I had learned that her name was Hillary and that she was the team manager. She handled their water bottles and uniforms and the like.

“Yeah, as long as you can keep up.” Toby said from behind me. Sam grinned and winked at me.

“You’re gonna be there, right Leah?” He asked me. I blushed and shrugged. Suddenly, I felt a large arm fall over my shoulder. My eyes widened as I saw Toby pull me against his side.

“Of course she is. She wouldn’t miss it for the world.” He answered for me, grinning mischievously. Sam beamed and nodded.

Looking at these three people, I was still slightly overwhelmed by the attention. I had never had friends and yet, looking at each of their faces, I could think of any better situation to be in. These were my friends now, no matter what happened after this, they would always be remembered as my friends.


	7. King of the Court - Part 6 (Final)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is a short story I wrote for one of my writing classes in high school. I based the characters off of Kageyama and Hinata.  
> Because of that, the character names are different (because I obvi couldn't turn in a fanfiction for my class lol)  
> So just for context:  
> Leah = Reader  
> Hillary = Yachi Hitoka  
> Sam Hanta = Hinata Shoyo  
> Toby King = Kageyama Tobio

Part 6:

The tournament was one of the best events I’d ever attended. Toby and Sam were amazing with their crazy moves and the rest of the team synced so well with them. I watched every match, even though I knew I didn’t have to. I loved watching them play about as much as they liked having me. Every time they’d win a point, Toby and Sam both would look at me, waiting for my approval. It was like they were having a competition to see who could get more cheers from me.

The best part of the tournament by far was Toby’s smile. He’d been getting used to it and smiled at me, every chance he got. I noticed he took my advice and used his evil, murderous grin on his opponents, probably scaring the living crap out of them. Then, when he won a really tough point, he would beam up at me. I loved it. I was never bored when he smiled so effortlessly. I kept remembering the night he tried to smile at me for the first time, and he couldn’t do it. Somehow, he’d unlocked the smile and I couldn’t be happier.

Not only had the tournament been going well, but I had gotten two more letters from colleges. I had applied to three in total. Two safeties that I wouldn’t mind going to, and the one that I wanted to go to the most. I had gotten into both safeties and one of them had given me a full ride on academics, making my decision right then. I knew I had been melodramatic and overreacting when I got rejected by my top school, but it had hit me hard that the only thing I worked for couldn’t get me into the school I wanted.

Then Toby showed up and reminded me that life wasn’t just about academics. The way he enjoyed volleyball and put so much energy in his schoolwork so that he could keep playing showed me something different. If I could find something like that to keep me motivated about my life, then I wouldn’t be solely centered on one thing. I realized it was better to be interested in many things than to be defined by one thing, unless you were willing to put your blood sweat and tears into it.

Toby definitely could do that. He had so much potential in volleyball and academics that if he tried enough, he could have so many options for his future. Me, I was going to try and branch out more in college. Maybe get into a sport or something. Try photography or graphic design. I’d always been interested in art, but I’d never had the time to get into it because of my strict academic schedule. Not anymore. I was going to free myself and become more than just a brain.

The principal would no longer be calling me to the office because of my academic achievements. He would want to see me for anything more and everything more.

The tournament ended on a grand win for Toby and Sam and several recruiters from Division 1 universities coming to talk to each of them. Toby let me hold their trophy and I even got a picture of it with him. He was actually smiling in the picture too. The picture was saved on my phone as soon as it appeared in my email. I was going to print it as soon as I could to put up in my dorm room.

The rest of the year was surprisingly more eventful than my entire high school career. I ate lunch with Toby, Sam and Hillary. I spent time with them outside of school. We went to see movies, went bowling, and even took a road trip to a near-by amusement park. I had done more things with these three people than I ever had with my parents. Sam was always the loudest in our little group, but he was moderated by shy, sweet Hillary. Toby was always fighting with him, but between me and Hillary, we made sure it stayed at friendly banter, and not full on rage.

As graduation approached, I was smiling more, looking at people in the eye more, talking to people more. I had even started making friends outside of the little group. The leader of the book club had even given me her number to text her over the summer. I started recognizing faces in the hallway and they started recognizing me. I was no longer the shy book-nerd. I was more outgoing and vocal. Though I still had a tendency only to speak when asked a question, I wasn’t as timid or nervous around people. Even the larger students didn’t scare me as much. I supposed I had the exposure to Toby’s intense face to thank for that.

Finally, graduation day was upon us and Hillary and I sat in the girl’s dressing room, adjusting out cap and gowns. She was jittery with nerves and excitement. She still hadn’t seen Sam to congratulate him or anything and I was right in the same boat. I hadn’t seen Toby for a few days because we’d been preparing for graduation. I knew Toby and Sam both had full rides to a university for their volleyball, and Hillary was going to a small school just near them so she would be right near Sam. However, I had never gotten around to asking the names of the universities and I wanted to know if I would ever see them again after today.

“Oh my gosh, I don’t know if I can do this. There are so many people out there today, Leah. What if is trip? Everyone’s going to laugh at me. I knew I should have worn flats.” Hillary complained, staring at herself in the mirror. I laughed at her and shook my head, using the bobby pins to attack the hat to my hair so it wouldn’t fall off.

“You’re not going to trip. And if you do, nobody’s going to care. You’re last name is at the very end, so people will most likely just want to leave, than laugh at your fall. You’ll be fine.” I reassured her, walking behind her to adjust her gown. She took a deep breath and applied some blush to put some color back in her pale cheeks.

“This is so crazy. I still feel like I walked into high school for the first day of freshman year, like, yesterday.” She said, dabbing gloss on her already pink lips. I sighed and nodded, stepping away from her. When Hillary finally deemed herself ready, she turned around and gave me a weak smile.

“Here goes nothing.” She said, shrugging. I smiled and lead the way out the girl’s dressing room.

We walked together out into the gym where the graduation was being held. There were seniors everywhere, laughing with their friends and they parents and family. I saw some familiar faces, but everyone was too excited to even look my way. Hillary squealed as she saw her parents and her grandparents. She ran up to them, and I found myself alone, looking for my own parents.

I made my way through the crowd, trying to see if I could see them, but then I ran into someone who was a lot shorter than me. I thought it was a child and started to apologize, but then was greeted with Sam’s large copper eyes.

“Leah! Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, I’m so nervous!” San’s eyes were usually filled with excitement and bliss, but today, his face was tinted green and his eyes filled with fear. “What is my hat falls off? What if I drop the diploma? What if they don’t even call my name?” he exclaimed, listing off all possible bad outcomes. I found myself grinning and laughing.

“Go find Hillary!” I yelled, unable to get my voice to him any other way. “You two can cancel each other’s nervous energies out.” I continued to laugh as some of the light filled back into his eyes. He smiled and peered up at me in curiosity.

“You know, I think we’re really going to miss you.” he said suddenly, much more solemn than his previous tone. I paused and tilted my head in question. “We haven’t known you for that long, but I know Toby considers you one of his best friends.” I blinked in surprise. When did Toby have anything to do with this?

“What are you talking about?” I asked, almost losing my balance from a small child shoving his way through the crowd. Sam smiled and looked over to where Toby was talking to a couple with his same facial features, who I assumed were his parents.

“I think you know what I’m talking about.” I blinked again and tried to figure out what he was talking about. “I’ve known Toby for four whole years, now, and he’s never smiled the way he does when he’s looking at you. Don’t’ forget him, alright?” My eyes widened and my cheeks heated. I was about to say something back, but Sam was already gone.

Sam’s word still echoed in my head as I found my parents, hugged them, talked to them and found my seat. They were still there when the graduation ceremony began. My name was called at the beginning and I kept thinking about Toby watching me as I took my diploma after they had announced where I would be going to school. They were still there when Sam went up to collect his diploma as well. He grinned down at the crowd and I couldn’t but compare Sam’s ecstatic grin to Toby’s beam.

Then Toby’s name was called and I watched as he walked up on the stage with his usual stoic expression. He took his diploma and turned to face the crowd. His eyes found mine and he smiled. He didn’t smile at his parents or at Sam. He smiled at me.

Then they read off the name of the university where he was attending. My eyes widened and my lips parted as the name of the university matched the one I was attending as well. Then I broke into my own smile and the two of us smiled wider than anyone else in the whole stadium for the rest of the whole ceremony.


	8. Recurring Injuries (Oikawa Tooru x Reader)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oikawa and Reader suffering together because of their recurring injuries. Specifically in a freezing, uncomfortable ice bath.
> 
> Requested by: AmethystFairy1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My friend AmethystFairy1 hates ice baths and loves Oikawa Tooru. So I wrote this for her :)

Recurring Injuries: Oikawa Tooru

The pain in your lower back was searing. It was burning and spread from an epicenter all around to your entire lower back and crept up your spine to touch at your shoulder blades. The pain had never been this bad before. Sure, you sometimes felt discomfort or even a bit of burning pain, but nothing this severe. It was like something snapped in your spine and now there was nothing you could do, no position you could put yourself in that would relinquish the pain. 

After falling down in volleyball practice after a particularly difficult dig, you could no longer hide the pain on your face. Your coach had caught it immediately and had sent you to the trainer’s room to get the injury checked out. You were afraid that this injury might be enough to take you out of the season for at least a week, maybe more, so you were more than a little reluctant to go see the trainer. 

It was your second year of university and your second season as a starter for the Varsity Women’s Volleyball team. This back pain was a recurring injury from high school that never managed to heal fully. It was something that you knew you would have to deal with for the rest of your life, but that thought never made it easier.

You trudged to the trainer’s room, wincing with each step at the stabbing pain in your back. Your practice clothes were slick from sweat and the tank top and shorts clung to your body in uncomfortable places. Your hair was tied into a messy ponytail that was stringy and damp. You needed a shower and perhaps an ice bath. Anything to get rid of the unbearable back pain.

When you arrived at the trainer’s room, you were asked to strip to just your bra and to lie on one of the training beds on your back. You complied, feeling much better when the damp tank top was gone. The trainer massaged your lower back, asking you questions about the pain, about when it started, how bad it usually was, if it hurt while walking, or breathing. You answered the questions to the best of your ability, trying and failing to downplay it a bit.

“Okay, I’m going to give you a tens pack and then an ice bath. I want you to sit out for the rest of the week and come in so I can give you treatments and assess the damage.”

You sighed dejectedly and nodded. You felt the trainer place the tens pads on your back and turn them on. You cringed at the weird sensation of dozens of pin-needles pressing to your back all at once. It took a few seconds to get used to it, but eventually you felt your back starting to relax. The trainer walked away from your bed to go help a new person who had walked in.

“Ah, nice of you to finally grace us with your presence.” The trainer said sardonically. You heard an amused chuckle in reply.

“I’ve been busy.” The chipper male voice replied.

“Oh, I’m sure. Go sit down.”

You heard footsteps come closer to you and the creaking of someone sitting on the bed next to you. You switched your head to the other side so you could see the new person. You blinked when you recognized Oikawa Tooru, the setter for the Varsity Men’s Volleyball Team. He gave you a flirty smile and scooted back on the bed so he could lay his legs out flat in front of him. He was wearing a black hoodie and some cargo pants. He looked like he had just come from class. 

The trainer stepped up next to him and started to massage his right knee, asking him similar questions to what he’d asked you earlier. Oikawa seemed bored and maybe even a little annoyed as he answered the questions in short sentences. After a few minutes of assessment, he was given an exercise band and was instructed to do several stretches with them for a few minutes. The trainer walked away as Oikawa kicked his shoes off and began to stretch out his leg with the band.

“Knee injury?” You inquired politely. Oikawa glanced at you and smiled, nodding.

“Yep, it’s a recurring one from middle school.” He said cheerfully. He nodded at your back.

“Back injury?” He asked in the same tone. You nodded.

“Yep, it’s also a recurring injury.”

Oikawa smiled, his eyes twinkling.

“I guess we’re in the same boat, then.”

Oikawa was in the same year as you, so you knew him a bit better than the other boys on the team, but you wouldn’t call yourselves friends. He seemed to always be flirting and talking to girls whenever you saw him and you didn’t care for any of that, so you usually steered clear of him. But there had been times when the mutual volleyball schedules had thrown you two together. Because the men’s season and women’s seasons often coincided, there were many occasions of joint matches. So there were times when the two teams would travel together to other universities or tournaments, which meant you saw a lot more of him.

“Oikawa!” There was a shrill yell from the doorway and you flinched at the sudden sound, making the tens pack on your back twitch harshly. 

You heard the scurrying of footsteps and then a girl appeared next to Oikawa, her eyes wide with worry. She flung her arms around his neck and hugged him close, making him gasp in surprise. You stifled a giggle at the annoyed expression on his face as he gave her an insincere pat on the back. The girl’s eyes touched yours and her mouth flattened into a thin line. You quickly looked away and pretended to mind your own business.

“I was so worried about you!” The girl exclaimed, releasing his neck and looking down at his leg, which was still stretching with the band. “Mina said you went to the trainer because of an injury and I just had to come and see you! Do you need anything? Anything at all?”

“I’m okay, Saki, it’s just a routine check-up.” Oikawa replied, giving her a polite smile. The girl clasped her hands together and stared at him with admiration and wonder.

“Oh my gosh, you’re being so brave.” She cooed, her eyes shining. You made a face. “Does your leg hurt a lot? Do you need me to massage it?” She continued, touching his thigh. You fought the urge to make a retching sound. Oikawa shook his head and removed her hand from his leg.

“The trainer already worked on it. Thanks for worrying about me, but I promise I’m fine. I’ll be out of here in no time.” He said quickly, obviously wanting to dismiss her. She appeared not to get the message because instead of backing away, she only moved closer, wrapping her arms around his bicep.

“Okay, are you sure? You know I’m here for you always, for  _ anything  _ you might need.” She emphasized the word ‘anything’ and leaned forward slightly, so he could get a nice view of her cleavage. You resisted the urge to roll your eyes.

“I’m sure, Saki. I’ll talk to you later, okay?” Oikawa gave her a gentle push back, and even though he was smiling, you could see the tension in his jaw. It was clear he did not appreciate her advances, he was just too polite to shut her down directly.

You pressed your lips together and quickly squeezed your eyes shut to try and suppress the laughter. 

“Okay, I guess I’ll leave you alone. Call me later!” You heard her say. You heard a kissing sound and opened your eyes just in time to see the girl give Oikawa a sloppy kiss on his cheek. Oikawa jerked back, obviously caught by surprise.

“Sure…” He said softly as she turned on her heel and walked away. 

You waited until you heard the patter of her footsteps disappear out the door before turning back to look at him. He was wiping his cheek, glaring after her, his previous polite smile gone from his face. He caught you giving him an amused look and he scoffed, waving his hand dismissively.

“Don’t say anything.” He muttered.

“You’re such a charmer with the ladies.” You teased, grinning at him. Oikawa rolled his eyes, but his mouth tilted up into an amused smile.

“Shut up.” He said jokingly.

“Was that your girlfriend?” You continued, wiggling your eyebrows. Oikawa laughed and pushed a hand through his wavy brown hair, shaking his head humorlessly.

“God, no. I’m not dating anyone. She’s just… very passionate.” He said slowly, choosing his words carefully. 

“Oh, I’m sure she is.” You laughed again and Oikawa let out an annoyed sigh, even though he was still smiling. He turned to look at you and your gazes locked, your eyes looking into his pools of chocolate that seemed to look right through you. You swallowed hard and pulled your gaze away, feeling an odd warmth touch at your cheeks.

At that moment, the trainer walked back over to you and removed the tens pads from your back. You sat back up, wincing a bit at the pain. It had definitely lessened, but not enough that you could move around comfortably. The trainer helped you to your feet and you winced again when you tried to straighten up.

“Okay, head over to the ice baths. I’ve got one all set up for you.” The trainer instructed. You nodded and limped over to the separate room where two large ice baths resided. 

These baths were large enough to fit three or four people and you had been privy to using them more than a few times during your short year at university. As part of the volleyball team, everyone had a quota of three ice baths a week. Each player had to use the ice bath at least three times a week whenever they could fit it in. You had already filled your quota for the week, but since you had the back injury, here you were to take another one.

One of the baths was already filled to the brim with ice and water. You took a breath and cautiously stepped inside, cringing harshly as the chilly wave that passed over you from just one foot submerged. You tensed up as you stepped in with the other leg and lowered your body into the ice bath, your teeth already beginning to chatter from the cold. Once you were fully submerged, you leaned back against the edge of the bath, trying to focus on your breathing and not the excruciating cold all over your body.

“That looks delectable.” You opened your eyes and looked up to see Oikawa standing in the doorway, looking at the bath with distaste. You laughed through chattering teeth.

“W-why d-don’t you c-come in to f-find out y-yourself?” You stuttered, the chattering making it difficult to speak. Oikawa grimaced as the trainer came up behind him and gave him a gentle nudge. Oikawa sighed and hugged himself reluctantly, staring at the bath.

“Do I have to?” He asked the trainer, pouting slightly. The trainer rolled his eyes.

“If you came in more regularly, we could spread this out. But since you appear to be too busy, then yes. You have to. Go on.” The trainer pointed at the bath and Oikawa sighed dramatically. 

He started peeling off his clothes, staring with his hoodie, then the t-shirt underneath. You watched him undress, convincing yourself that it was just a distraction from the cold. You raked your eyes down his muscular chest and toned abdominals. You were pretty sure if you weren’t freezing, you would be blushing. He really was very attractive and you kind of understood the infatuation all the girls had on him. 

He shoved his pants down and stepped out of them, so he was in nothing but his boxers and cautiously made his way over to the tub. He stepped in the other side and visibly shivered as he lowered himself down opposite you. Once he was submerged, he adjusted his position so he was facing you, his legs spread out in front of him. He had long enough legs that they brushed against your under the water. 

“H-how’s it g-going?” You asked, moving your legs to avoid touching him. 

“Oh, y-you know… j-just p-peachy…” Oikawa responded, his teeth chattering just as badly as you. You nodded, grimacing slightly. The cold felt like it was stabbing your body all over with tiny needles. You needed something to distract from the cold.

“So, how come you’ve been missing t-trainer sessions?” You asked, looking hopefully up at him. He smiled wryly and shrugged his shoulders.

“Oh, you know, I've just been busy with c-class and practices that I just f-forget.” He said nonchalantly. You raised an eyebrow curiously.

“Yeah but it’s an injury. If it’s s-serious, then wouldn’t it be worse to skip sessions?”

Oikawa shrugged. “Not really. My injury isn’t as severe as it used to be. It’s really just about m-maintenance at this point.” He deadpanned. You tilted your head.

“You wear a b-brace, don’t you?” You asked, remembering the white knee brace that contrasted the black knee pad on the other knee. It had been one of the first things you’d noticed about him in practices. Well, that and his obvious good looks.

“Yeah, but I don't really need it. I keep it just for extra s-support.” Oikawa smiled and you returned it, raising a teasing eyebrow.

“Oh, I’m sure you get support from lots of places.” You mused. “That girl was p-practically throwing herself at you.” You chuckled to yourself as Oikawa sighed dramatically.

“Like I said, Saki is just passionate.” He mumbled sheepishly. You smirked at him.

“Yeah? What about the other five million g-girls I see you with all the time.” You asked cheekily. Oikawa laughed a hearty laugh that cracked a bit because of the cold. He shook his head and shivered a bit.

“Have you been w-watching me, Y/N?” He asked, raising his eyebrows at you. 

You rolled your eyes. “It’s kind of hard not to n-notice.” You muttered. Oikawa laughed again and your smirk faded.

“Do I d-detect a bit of jealousy?” He asked, grinning at you. Your eyes widened at his implication.

“What? D-don’t be ridiculous.” You deflected, shaking your head. Oikawa grinned and lifted an eyebrow in your direction flirtatiously.

“You don’t have to be defensive. You can just tell me if you like me.” He said with a cocky smile. You narrowed your eyes.

“You’re d-delusional.” You snapped. Oikawa’s grin only widened.

“And you’re cute when you’re embarrassed.” He said easily, making your breath catch in your throat.

You scoffed and quickly looked away, slightly glad that this bath was preventing any sort of warmth in your body because you were sure that your face would be as red as a tomato elsewise. He was smooth, you’d give him that.

“What about you?” He asked, making you blink in confusion.

“What about me?” You turned back to face him. Oikawa tilted his head at you, giving you a flirty smirk.

“Do you have a boyfriend? A broad shoulder you can use for support?” He asked, his tone curious but also mocking. You rolled your eyes.

“Please. It will be a cold day in hell before I decide I need a man to support myself.” 

Oikawa shivered and his smile faded.

“I don’t know… it feels pretty cold at the moment. Are we in hell right now?” he asked wryly. You let out a sardonic chuckle.

“You’re funny.”

“That’s me, the funny guy.”

It grew silent again as the two of you marinated in the freezing cold bath, suffering together. Time seemed to crawl as you waited for the trainer to tell you that you could get out. You closed your eyes, focusing on your own heartbeat and breathing. 

You could hear Oikawa panting in front of you and you opened your eyes slightly to watch him. His own eyes were closed and he was leaning his head back, his eyebrows scrunched together. You let your gaze trail over his face, then down to his chest and stomach, which were submerged so they looked wavy through the water. He was really lean and toned everywhere and you wondered if he had any body fat on him at all. 

He was really really cute. Too bad he was an incorrigible flirt. Otherwise, you might have gone for it.

“Okay, kids. You’re done. You can get out now.” You breathed a sigh of relief when the trainer walked back in, placing his hands on his waist, looking down at you two.

You immediately pushed yourself up as Oikawa mimicked your actions. You both stepped out and grabbed the towel provided by the trainer. You dried yourself off and then wrapped the towel around your body, hoping to warm up quickly. Oikawa did the same, draping the towel over his body. You were ashamed to say you were a bit sad that he was covering up.

The two of you returned to the training room and you sat down on your bed, pulling your tank top back over your head. Oikawa started to pull his clothes back on as well and you watched him, a ghost of a smile on your face.

“Where are you headed?” Oikawa asked, folding the towel up. You looked away quickly, hoping he hadn’t caught you staring.

“Um… probably back to the gym. I need to get my stuff.”

“I’ll walk with you. I need to get ready for practice tonight anyway.”

“Oh… okay.”

Oikawa smiled at you and slung his bag over his shoulder. The two of you left the training room in a comfortable silence. On your way back to the gym, you saw a familiar figure standing at the entrance, her arms crossed as her eyes laser-focused on you. You swallowed hard and shuffled back slightly behind Oikawa as the two of you approached her.

“Saki, what are you still doing here?” Oikawa asked, his face twisted in a weird combination of politeness and annoyance. 

“What are you doing with her?” Saki demanded, scowling at you. You swallowed and nervously stepped back, crossing your arms. You took one look at the size of her fingernails and decided you really did not want to get into anything with this girl. 

“She… what? She was in there getting treated with me.” Oikawa looked at you, then back at Saki in disbelief. “You were just there, didn’t you see her?” He asked incredulously. Saki rolled her eyes and stomped her foot.

“Yes, but why are you walking with her?” She whined, moving closer to Oikawa. He jerked back instinctively and you felt his shoulder press up against yours involuntarily.

“Uh…”

“I waited for you because I thought we could go on a date after you were finished! I even got you this.” Saki held up a cherry flavored soda and peered at him with sparkling eyes. “It’s your favorite, isn’t it?”

“Um… I'm sorry if I gave you the wrong impression, Saki, but…” Oikawa trailed off, glanced at you, then at her, and back at you again. He gave you a long look and you raised an eyebrow at him. 

“I can’t go out with you because Y/N is actually my girlfriend.” Oikawa announced, linking his arm with yours.

Your eyebrows shot up and your jaw dropped. You instinctively jerked back, glaring up at him. He was giving you wide puppy-dog eyes, puckering his lower lip. You let out an annoyed sigh as he stared at you, mentally pleading with you. You sighed again, closed your eyes, then reopened them, smiling. You leaned into him and played into the girlfriend role, rubbing his arm lovingly.

You looked up at Saki to see a plain expression of shock on her face. You almost snorted at her, when she turned and glared hard at you. You gulped and your smile faded slightly.

“Oh, she is, is she?” She demanded, planting her fists on her waist. “And how long has this been going on?” 

“Not long, we decided we wanted to take it slow. But we’re very much into each other. Isn’t that right,  _ honey bunches _ ?” Oikawa said, petting your arm and looking down at you with a sweet smile. You wanted to gag, but you swallowed your disdain and smiled back up at him and at her.

“That’s right,  _ snookums _ .” You replied, leaning your head on his shoulder. 

Saki glared between you two for a few more seconds before huffing angrily and stomping away. Oikawa sighed and you quickly released him, pulling your arm out of his grip.

“Sorry about that. Thank you.” He groaned, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. You huffed and brushed yourself off.

“You owe me one. That was gross.” You deadpanned.

“Ouch.”

You looked up to see a hurt look pass over Oikawa’s face. You immediately felt bad and tried to backtrack.

“No, I meant she was gross. Not you, sorry.” You said quickly, patting his arm and shoulder with both hands. Oikawa looked down at where you were touching him, then back up at you. His lips tilted into a soft smile and you stepped back quickly, blushing furiously. Oikawa turned his body to face you.

“You know… this doesn’t have to be fake.” He said slyly, a small smirk forming on his face. 

You blinked in confusion. “What?”

“What if I make it up to you on a real date?” Oikawa tilted his head at you and smiled wide. You stared in disbelief.

“Are you asking me out? Really?” You asked incredulously. Oikawa nodded and shrugged.

“Why not?” He said, grinning at you. You stared at him for a few seconds, trying to work out if he was being serious or not. It was often hard to tell, since his smile wasn’t often genuine. When you couldn’t figure it out, you laughed and patted him on the chest.

“You’re definitely going to have to try a little harder than that,  _ snookums _ .” You said with a smirk and a wink. Oikawa’s smile faded, to be replaced with a shocked look. It was obvious that he wasn’t used to being turned down, much less being made fun of either.

You turned on your heel and walked away, leaving the gaping boy behind you. You felt a small smirk on your face when you heard him call after you.

“That’s fine with me. I’m up for a challenge, Y/N!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Let me know what you thought :)


End file.
